Where Does this Leave Us?
by Hannanball13
Summary: SEASON 4 CONTINUATION  season 4 and 5 spoilers  - Typical stubborn Mary has gone into labor after her sister goes M.I.A from her own wedding... Mary/Marshall/Mark/Jinx/Stan  I DO NOT own ANY of these characters nor do I own In Plain Sight!
1. Where Does This Leave Us?

"I'm not ready, I'm not ready." The words echoed in her mind over and over again as Marshall attempted to console the sobbing, hysterical Mary.

"I've already told you Mare, women deliver healthy babies at 32 weeks every day!"

She remembered the day she realized she was pregnant, her gigantic boobs barely fit into her usually very roomy button up, and her usually settling minty toothpaste set off a gagging charade that didn't subside until she finally gave into praying to the porcelain God; and even then, the urge to vomit everywhere didn't seem to subside. Mary guessed Marshall was the one who finally made her come to, after nearly a day of suffering some serious denial he had finally convinced her that the stick she peed on was telling the truth. Although it was the last thing she wanted.

Mary had never entertained the idea of children, maybe it had something to do with the fact that the longest relationship she had ever had was with Raph, which wasn't necessarily a happy ending and her only marriage was with- well Mark, and quite frankly those were the worst thirty-six hours of her life. Not to mention, it had never seemed appropriate to force a child into the Shannon family, after all, she was not one to even make lunch for herself yet alone pack one every day, or school shop every Summer, and she definitely didn't like the idea of waking up in the middle of the night to a wailing, puking, poop covered infant… It just wasn't what Mary wanted, that's why adoption was her first instinct, a baby wasn't anything _she_ could handle, it was something a nice family with the last name "Smith" would be happy to take from her, with a mother who could cook and a father that wasn't, well, Mark!

She clutched at the various areas where the pain was the strongest, earlier today she had felt a little bit of a dull ache, which didn't worry her until now. It must have been the adrenaline from shooting her gun again, for being in the action that she was restricted from being and now, after that long talk with Marshall, Mary finally began to see the bigger picture.

Mary looked around her eyes darting back and forth to each one of her family members and finally they looked upward at Marshall, his eyes twinkled the Marshal Marshall Mann sparkle, although his face was contorted into a severe look of worry. This was never how she planned, she thought she'd be calm, she thought it would be easier, she thought it would be two months later rather than earlier, and finally she thought the idea of handing her baby off to the childless couple with the last name "Smith" wouldn't be ripping her apart like it was.

The ambulance tearing through the shrubs and the overwhelming screaming siren was what finally made this real. She looked at herself, in no way did Mary ever like to show her pain, but now, as she rocked back and forth in her partners arms moaning like a dying cat, she couldn't help the fact that every one, at this moment could easily read how she really felt about this situation.

As the EMT's nudged Marshall away and forced everyone to stand back, Mary suddenly didn't like the fact that two absolute strangers were touching her, and Marshall had known her for so long and so well that he could see it in her eyes the way she saw the sparkle, it was that obvious…

"STOP TOUCHING HER!" he ordered as they were grabbing Mary, ever _not_ so gently to help her up. The look of discomfort on her face was enough to cause his heart to ache. He shoved past the two men. Marshall bent his knees, bracing himself, he was practically kneeling down, and so he had absolutely no clue how he was going to pull off what he wanted to do.

"Put your arm around my neck."

Mary began to shake her head, but when she thought about getting up the pain increased so much it sent more tears slipping from the corners of her eyes, she couldn't believe herself when she did what she was told , and let Marshall do what she knew he was going to do.

"Marshall your back?" she gasped as he rose up from the ground, with her securely in his arms. He gently placed her on the gurney and let the men strap her in, Marshall was all for safety.

As they were going to ask who was going with her, the day came flooding back to her again. Marshall was the first one to say "We're having a baby." Not Mark, she didn't care what Mark had to say. She would have preferred him not being there, not yearning to be a father, and not wanting so much to jump up into that ambulance with her,

"Marshall, I want Marshall…" She breathed, Abigail gasped and Mark stopped wiggling, disappointment washing over his face.

"Well then, I- I guess we'll meet you over there…Shall we Mark?" Abigail stuttered.

She nodded, understanding that she had just crushed Mark, and maybe went as far spitting on the pieces when she grasped Marshall's hand the way Mary had never grasped Mark's, in trust, in love.

"Please don't leave me Marshall…" she pleaded. He never heard Mary beg, so it was scary to him, this wasn't Mary.

"I won't Mare, I'd never leave you, you're my best friend…"

"Wow that's pretty sad.."

Now that was Mary.

"Haha." He replied trying to mimic the amount of sarcasm Mary had had in her voice.

"Marshall?"

"What Mare?" he looked at her face, expecting another snappy comment, "Another contraction?" he asked worriedly.

"No, no- I think my water just broke doofus!"

"But- Shit, It did!" He looked down at her damp leggings, wiping his hands on his pants.

"Maybe I just peed or something? Right Marshall it could be just piss?"

"No, it's definitely not pee…" he looked down disgustedly at his hand he had obliviously placed on her thigh, still horrified that it was covered in Mary's bodily fluid.

She grasped his hand harder than before.

"I-I'm scared, it's too early, God this can't be happening…" she whined.

"It'll be fine, Mare look at me!" he urged.

"Marshall, I don't- my baby!" she cried.

"LOOK AT ME! You are going to be fine! The baby will be fine! Everything will be okay, I swear!"

"You can't promise me that!"

The ambulance stopped and the doors opened to reveal the day again, they rolled her into the E.R. People scrambled out of their way as Marshall argued with the disgruntled Mary even more.

The nurses had Mary in a room in minutes and Marshall walked in just in time to catch the end of an argument with one of the doctors,

-No, I'm not putting on that gown, because- because I'm not having my baby today!" she argued. Marshall shook his head, chuckling to himself.

"Mary?" he asked as if just walking into the conversation.

"Marshall, I'm not getting into a gown, he's not ready! I'm holding him in!"

"Just a few minutes ago you were telling me you wanted nothing more than to not be pregnant!"

"I've changed my mind!" she argued unconvincingly.

"Shut up, and sit down."

He leaned over and unzipped her boots, peeling them from her legs and gingerly from her swollen ankles,

"Mary, the wonder of the miracle of life is enough to cause even the most calm and stubborn person to be filled with fear.."

"Stop talking- I should have known, even in times of crisis you'd still be Marshall-pedia!"

"Give me your jacket." He ordered, remaining oblivious to her antics.

She rolled her eyes,

"I hate you." Mary stated as she pulled the jacket off, her protruding abdomen no more obvious to the world around them. From behind the nurse handed Marshall the gown and he handed it to Mary,

"Put it on, while you have the ability to remain vertical."

"No."

"You are acting like a child, if you don't put it on yourself, I will get Stan, Mark and your mother to hold you down, and I will put it on myself! GOT IT! Now put the damn gown on, screw chivalry, you are not being very mature about all of this!"

Mary ripped the pathetic excuse for a clothing garment from his hand, cringing in pain from the tense movement. Marshall turned around, hiding his triumphant grin,

"Happy?" She replied as he turned back around to face his partner, in the all too revealing gown, Mary could have made anyone blush. He observed as the nurse hooked her up to a monitor to track her own heart rate and one to track the baby's. It was perfect, there was no interruption to the perfect rhythmic beat of the baby's little heart.

The doctor came in to examine Mary, sending Marshall out of the room for "Coffee" although Mary noticed when he returned, must have drank the coffee during the excruciatingly long two minute walk from the cafeteria to the maternity ward. Typical doofus. Like Mary didn't see him strategically peek into the window to make sure the examination was over before he came back in.

"So what's going on in there?" Mary asked with little sensitivity.

"You are one centimeter dilated, but even so your labor is progressing much too fast for someone only thirty two weeks along. Your contractions are extremely irregular which is a bit unsettling and you mustn't deliver the baby anytime soon, because the child's lungs are a bit under developed. Our main concern would be the baby's lungs, not that we aren't fully prepared if you deliver today, it's just we don't want you to; we will do everything in our power to prevent it. We do have a drug that is proven to stop the progression of labor, but it's not guaranteed and puts the mother at some risks and its list of side effects is quite- overwhelming." She added reluctantly.

"I don't care! Just give me the God Damn drug! Why haven't you left yet? GAH! Go get it! " Mary yelled in pain.

The doctor smiled at her patient's brash reaction, but was pleased with the fact she agreed that that would be the best course of action, made this obvious and left after making the mistake of telling Mary to "Relax".

"RELAX?" Mary screamed pushing on her sides, trying to find any way to relieve the pain.

The nurse came in shortly to administer the drugs; Marshall shuddered at the list of side effects Mary ever so nonchalantly glanced at before signing her name near the "x", after about fifteen minutes of watching Mary make every sort of facial expression she could make to express pain she looked up at him,

"Marshall?"

"What Mary?" he asked, furrowing his brow once more at the copy of the forms the nurse had handed to him before setting them on the chest of drawers beside her bed.

"I'm sorry I dragged you here." She said tugging at his sleeve, slurring slightly, he looked into her glazed over eyes, fighting the urge to laugh at his seemingly high partner.

"You didn't drag me, I wanted to come, Anyway I'll leave when Mark gets here." He sighed, feeling a tinge of resentment at the sound of Mark's name escaping his lips.

"Mhmmm NO not Marrrrk, I don't want to deal with him right now- OW" she complained.

"Where was I when they checked me last, did I move from the first time?"

"Not very far, one centimeter still, no worries, it seems the drugs are working." He answered embarrassed by another bout of her inappropriate nonchalance.

"Marshall, tell me something to keep my mind off of this, do something!"

He had her by the hand, not knowing what to do he simply whispered,

"You should get some sleep."

"I can't!" She huffed like a small child who couldn't get their way.

"Yes you can.." he soothed, running his hand across her face, down her neck and across her arm and then back up through her damp blonde hair.

"Oh Mary Mary quite contrary, How does your baby grow? With tiny feet, like his mom so sweet-

"I love you Doofus." She sighed as she drifted into a light slumber, escaping from impending motherhood.

"I love you too Mare." He whispered grabbing her hand, wishing he could be closer to her. He grabbed the information on the table to read over once more, to make sure that "clouded judgment" wasn't one of the side effects. But even as he read the "clouded judgmentless" list over and over again, he couldn't believe that Mary, his Mary, had just uttered those words.

Before he had a chance to celebrate with himself, Mark ran in, slamming the door against the wall, startling Mary from her sleep.

"WAY TO GO MARK!" Marshall scolded.

Mary groaned softly through another contraction, "Damn it Mark." She muttered under her breath, through clenched teeth.

Marshall grabbed Mark by the arm, dragging him back out the door where he had come from.

"Listen Mark, don't pull this crap!"

"Let me go, that's my kid!"

"NO! Not until you calm down!"

"I'm fine!" he yelled, trying to squirm from Marshall's grip.

"NO YOU"RE NOT! Mary can't handle this right now! Its bad enough Jinx is coming and Brandi's M.I.A, you can't go in there and make Mary flip out the way you always make her do! So rather than go in there and rile her up, you're going to find some water and sit your ass on this bench and simmer the hell down! It is no secret that Mary doesn't want you here!" Marshall breathed heavily, not regretting anything but the last sentence. That wasn't his place, and he knew Mary would give him hell for it later.

"Who are you telling me what to do?" Mark asked bitterly.

"I'm her best friend! More than you'll ever be to her!"

Mark was taken aback, he sat down, shocked that of all people Marshall had just let him have it, shocked that Mary was in labor and most of all shocked, that everything the very angry Marshall had just screamed at him was true. He looked down at his feet, realizing maybe he didn't belong here, while his ex-wife's best friend made his way back into the room to tend to the person he had been trying so hard to impress. As Marshall entered, Mary looked up in a drugged up grimace.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing you should worry about." Marshall replied trying to take the edge out of his voice as not to upset Mary like he was trying to prevent Mark from doing. He sat back down in his spot.

"Just try and rest." He added.

"I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too Mare." He stroked her forehead,

"Marshall I'm so tired."

"I know, just sleep. Everything is still fine."

"Promise you'll be here when I wake up?"

"Of course.. Of course I'll be here." A flash of Abigail's smile passed through his mind and guilt overcame his promise, but Marshall never broke his promises, especially to Mary.

She stirred restlessly. Mark remained outside and Marshall tried everything to get her to relax again, but all failed until he decided to stand up.

"Move over Mare." He assisted her in scooting over as far as she could, Marshall took off his jacket and laid next to her, he wrapped his long arms around her, he caressed her cheek and rubbed her swollen abdomen in a circular motion while gently kissing her forehead.

"Everything is going to be okay, you got this Mare" he whispered softly in her ear. She burrowed into his chest,

"Oh doofus." She breathed.

"I love you Mary." He whispered to himself as she fell asleep again, except this time close to him, he felt her rhythmic breathing and almost dozed off himself, but knew not to.

Jinx walked in, and Marshall realized Mark wasn't outside anymore. She took one look at Marshall and her face turned red. Before she could react, he held his finger to his lips.

"Shhh, Jinx, she just fell asleep!"

"What are you doing?" she whispered exasperated.

"She- she couldn't sleep!"

"Get outta that bed right now!"

"I-I can't, she- if I move I'll wake her up." He argued.

"Marshall you've crossed the line!"

"Quiet down!"

"I can't believe this! I thought you knew better!"

"You know, Jinx, I thought _you _of all people would know better! Your daughter is my only friend, I love Mary! She's my best friend!" Marshall held onto Mary tighter.

She stirred a little, squirming in Marshall's arms. The baby kicked under his grasp, when Mary stopped moving and settled again, he changed the subject.

"Has Mary let you feel the baby?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Of course not, she stays as far away as she can from me."

"Come here." He beckoned to Jinx, when she was close enough he grabbed her hand to replace his with hers.

"Wow… I don't think Brandi or Mary moved this much.." She smiled.

"This baby's gonna be just like her, stubborn, hard headed, I feel bad for the family whose going to have to take care of him or her, they don't have the experience with Mary to prepare themselves for this kid." He laughed.

Jinx took her hand away, frowning at the thought of her short lived grandmother hood.

"Oh, look at the machine, she's having a contraction. Marshall put one hand on her lower back and the other at the base of her belly."

Marshall did as Jinx said,

"Now apply even pressure to both sides." She added.

Mary's eyes shot open,

"Oh that feels soooo good doofus!"

"Thank your mother."

"Those aren't words I'm used to hearing." She replied sarcastically.

"Haha." Mary's mother replied sarcastically.

"You should really go back to sleep Mare, alright?"

"Why do you want me to sleep so bad?" she asked snuggling back into his chest.

"Cause you might have a baby tonight." He replied softly.

"Don't remind me."

"Close your eyes." He mentioned, trying to ignore what she had just said.

"Oh, fineee" she yawned.

"Marshall?"

"Yeah?"

"If the adoption agency calls, don't let them say "I told you so" when you tell them I've changed my mind…"

"Of course not- wait, you changed your mind?" he asked in disbelief, but Mary had already dozed off for the third time, snoring softly.

"I knew you would." He smiled, kissing the top of her forehead.

Jinx gasped in surprise and happiness.

"So I'm gonna be a grandmother after all?" She ran from the room, probably to tell some poor unsuspecting bystander minding their own business the news they could care less about.

Marshall put his arms back around Mary, grinning from ear to ear. As Mary snoozed on his chest he couldn't think of anyone else he'd want to be with, and that's when Abigail walked in.

The taken aback look on her face was worthy enough to be a still shot of a bad daytime soap opera, but no hurt filled her eyes, there was no big reaction, as Marshall opened his mouth to speak she interrupted,

"Shhh Marshall, let me say this, and I don't want any apologies when I do. You love Mary, I know you love me too, but you aren't _in _love with me. This is where you belong, not searching animal shelters to find a cat, but laying here with _her._ Don't get me wrong, I've known for a while, but this and earlier today- you would take a bullet for her, not that you wouldn't for me. It's that, Mary needs a man who understands her enough to want to do something like protect her from a sniper or talk her down after someone makes her angry and quite frankly, Marshall you're one of the only men I know that can handle her. There. I've said what I've needed to say. Goodbye Marshall." She kissed him on the cheek, and before leaving added,

"Send me a picture of the new baby when the time comes I suppose." And with that she left. He lay next to his partner, unable to find the words or emotions to tie in with this situation, because it was one he never thought he would be in. This had been some day, and rather than re live any of it, he closed his eyes with every intention of falling asleep and waking up with U.S Marshal Mary Shannon in his arms.


	2. Here We Are

_(Thank you for those who read and commented :D Means a lot, I really do enjoy writing this fic. Here's chapter 2 Unfortunately, as the new season approaches, I'm becoming sad, its upsetting that U.S.A is getting rid of such a great show and only giving eight measly episodes to wrap up and tie all of these loose strings together, I suppose that's why there's fanfiction .) _

Mary's eyes shot open.

"Jesus Christ." She muttered under her breath as she positioned herself differently for the millionth time. She lifted her head off of Marshall's chest to take a look at her sleeping partner. The fact that they hadn't told him to scram was surprising to her, but for all she knew no one had come in since she had been given those magical "halt life's greatest miracle drugs"… She repositioned one more time, but to her disappointment the urgent need to pee didn't go away. As much as she didn't want to she had to wake Marshall up.

"Psst, Marshall?" He didn't budge, only a quiet groan escaped his throat.

"Marshall?" She whined, wiggling in the bed like a little kid, "Wake uppppp!" she grabbed his shoulder as tight as she could from the angle she was at, but still he only stirred the tiniest bit and then tightened the hold he had around her, causing her face to be pressed uncomfortably to his bony chest,

"YO MARSHALL THE KID IS OUT!"

He immediately unwrapped his arms around her and flung himself out of the bed,

"What? I slept through it!" sleep in his eyes and disbelief ringing in his tone. His eyes darted around the room.

Mary, as she was so famous for doing, raised her eyebrow, snorting she said,

"Jeez doofus, you're too easy."

"That's not funny Mare, you nearly gave me a God Damn heart attack!"

"Consider yourself lucky" She sat up, pulled the blankets off of her bottom half and grabbed the back of her gown as not to expose herself- "This kid keeps kicking or punching or jabbing, whatever the hell it's doing right onto my bladder, my kidney, and smacking at my pelvic bone; Whatever this little parasite is doing- Don't let Hollywood fool you but it's not those cute little 'oh my God their kicking' tear jerking moments its constantly and repetitively right in my bladder over and over again, time after time! Even in the womb this kid is obviously a Shannon because it find ways to cause me heartache and frustration every chance it gets! Am I selfish Marshall? Is it selfish that I can't stand the fact that every moment of every day I have this constant feeling that my bladder is about to burst? Am I such a horrible person because I don't like the fact that my feet barely fit into my favorite pair of shoes? Or the only thing I want to eat is something greasy? It is so absolutely ridiculous of me that I no longer want to go to bed with heartburn and wake up equally as nauseous? Why does everyone look at me like I'm such a bad person because I don't want to be pregnant?" she sighed, "Anyway, if I had waited any longer to wake you up, chances are I would have kept putting it off until we were both laying in a puddle of my urine so- I did you a favor" She hopped up from the bed and waddled toward the bathroom, untangling herself from the tubes of the I.V as she went, unaware that she had let go of her gown. Marshall blushed at the view of his partners back side in its entirety.

"Ummm, Mare?" Marshall shuddered, but the door slammed just in time for her to not hear what he had started to say, maybe it was for the better; this way he wouldn't embarrass his partner or himself.

Marshall took the opportunity to pull out his cellphone, he dialed a number quickly and placed the phone to his ear,

"Yeah Stan? I know- No I'm still with her, No, no baby yet- No I'm sure Mary wouldn't be mad if you brought her flowers, it doesn't matter what color- But any way, can you do me a favor? Can you stop by Mary's house when you drop of the floral arrangement and grab some pajamas for her? I don't know Stan, maybe some sweat pants and a T-shirt, No, it doesn't matter if it matches- or what color it is… I suppose bringing it in a plastic bag wouldn't harm, STAN! I got to go, I have to- I'm hanging up, Bye Stan!" Marshall sighed in frustration and threw his phone onto his jacket.

"Hey Mare, you okay in there?"

"Doofus?"

The tone of her voice was either scared or embarrassed, but Marshall couldn't tell, those two emotions usually never seemed to phase Mary Shannon, but as most of them had figured out, this pregnancy was uncharted territory and anything was possible with Mary.

"Ummm, Am I allowed to pee?"

"What?" Marshall pressed his ear to the bathroom door, wondering if he had heard her wrong, but he came to find out he hadn't

"Am I allowed to pee?" she questioned again.

"Yeah, of course you are, the baby's not just gonna fall out Mary, it's a difficult and painful process, and you couldn't possibly be dilated anymore.." he was sure he was right, but was so taken aback by the question, she had him second guessing himself, this was something Mary was really good at doing.

"Marshall, I swear to God if I end up on that health channel with those damn dumbass women giving birth to their kid on the crapper, I'll _kill _you."

"Mary just go, I think you'll be able to stop yourself if you feel a human being expelling from your loins, also what would that promo be like, 'I'm Pregnant And… A U.S Marshal.'"

Of course, as he chuckled to himself proudly for the joke he cracked Mary saw right through it, for a chance to take a stab at his vocabulary,

"Ugh, you're the only person I know who would use the term 'loins' in everyday conversation when not referring to prepackaged meats in the grocery store."

It was clear to him, that by now, most of the crazy side effects had worn off and Mary was herself once more. She emerged from the restroom, a look of discomfort etched across her visage, Marshall started toward her, but she quickly held her arm out to keep him away as he grazed the small of her back,

"Do _not_ try and help me into this bed, I am not broken, I am not feeling extra sensitive or hormonal today, I am in premature labor, I don't have a terminal illness!"

"Okay, just calm down, let's take a deep breath together and re-

"DON"T YOU DARE TELL ME TO RELAX MARSHALL MANN!"

"But-

"No! When _you _grow a vagina or are one day forced to push a small watermelon from _your_ junk because of a mistake you made nine months prior, _then _and _only _then will you be allowed to tell me to relax!"

"Mary, maybe this is a good thing, have you ever thought maybe this is your destiny?"

"Please don't go spewing about destiny right now, you know how I can't stand it, you know how I don't believe it. Forgive me if you don't feel the same, but I don't think having a baby with a man I mistakenly married and then even more mistakenly had a fling with eight months ago is my destiny, I am living proof that all of that is bullshit." He was surprised when he looked up at her to see the tears again,

"Maybe your destiny, isn't having your baby with the father, but with someone else, who cares for you more than anybody else in this world, maybe you're supposed to be with a guy who can make you re think the whole 'not wanting a family' bit- he inched toward her, "maybe you need someone to tell you every day that they love you, and mean it more than anyone else you've been with, Mary, have you _ever _thought maybe the person you're supposed to spend the rest of your life is right here?"

"I-

He leaned in closer, until he could feel her breath on his face and then pressed his lips to hers and felt the feeling of her soft lips, a feeling he had been waiting to feel for years. He wasn't going for romance, everyone who knows Mary, knew she hated romance, and he wasn't _trying _for messy, it just happened that way…

_(What do you think? Is it all right? I want to write more, believe me; no matter what you say there will be more, but did I at least hit the essence of Mary and Marshall?)_


	3. What Do You Want Me To Do?

_(I had trouble with this chapter, I just couldn't find the right inspiration- I have re written this like a million times, but I think this is the right one! I'm still a little iffy, but it sounds right, it feels kinda good, that's why I posted it! Please comment and enjoy!)_

Marshall pulled away when he heard the handle of the heavy hospital room door turning. Mary's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red and stumbled back into her bed without her usual skillful footwork. He tried to act as if nothing had happen,

"Er- Studies show that hugging can relieve pain according to umm, a hospital in Sacramento…Ahem" he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Mary shot him her, "you've got to be kidding me" look and then her face proceeded to twist back into her usual expression of inconvenience much like it had always seemed to be in. The doctor smiled knowingly, but mentioned nothing about the spectacle she had just witnessed.

":All right Ms. Shannon, I'm gonna to take a look to see if you've dilated anymore, and then I'll do a quick ultrasound and be out of your hair, how does that sound?"

"Hoorayyy…" she sang, sarcasm practically dripping from her tone.

Marshall paced over to the window, his hands stuffed into his pockets,

"I think I'm going to go get some pudding." He started over to the door, but stopped when he heard Mary shout,

"HEY! You don't want nasty hospital pudding! You are staying here with me!" she ordered.

"I'm-

"Don't tell me you're hungry, when _you _have a human being whose set up shop in _your_ uterus then you can tell me you're hungry, she's gonna check my cervix, seriously, ypou can handle it, it will take all of fifteen seconds, two of your useless Marshall Mann trivia facts and it's over, okay?"

"You know Mare, for hating being pregnant so much and not wanting to be treated as if you were a stereotypical ball of hormones you sure do play the pregnancy card an awful lot."

"I do hate being pregnant, but I think even you'll agree that some things you hate, you can somehow twist to your advantage! Now you come stand right here, and don't look in that direction!" she pointed toward the doctor who was manning her station in between Mary's legs.

"I feel like a little kid…" he started to turn his head toward the forbidden zone,

"Ah AH, NO! If you're talking to me, my face is up here!" She closed her eyes, "By the way, now would be a good time to tell me something I don't care about…"

"Ummm, uhhh, did you know that even in the womb babies have fingernails?"

"Wow, that gives me some disturbing mental images, hit me with another one…" she cringed, now from what Marshall knew couldn't be out of annoyance,

"Mhhmmm, Babies can't sweat!-

"All done!" The doctor threw her gloves in the trash bin and walked back over to cover Mary's exposed bottom half.

"See? I told you doofus, its over!" She patted Marshall on the back practically knocking the air out of him.

"Ms. Shannon, you've stayed at one centimeter, that's excellent!" the doctor smiled reassuringly as she began to move equipment around to make way for the ultrasound machine.

"Does that mean I get to go home?"

"Not quite, after the scare you had, we can't afford to let you leave. The drugs we gave you still haven't entirely worn off, but right now it looks good.."

"So you're saying, after all of this, I could still have to push this kid out tonight?"

"Hopefully not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, possibly not even this week, but one thing is for certain, you'll be spending the rest of your pregnancy in here."

"No offense, but that absolutely blows.." Mary whined.

"I'm sorry; we just don't want to have to take unnecessary risks…"

Marshall cut in-

"Mary that's totally understandable, in fact I agree with her."

"Shut up doofus! What do you know?"

"I know you're having a baby, and I know even _you_ wouldn't want anything to happen to it." Marshall's eyes were ablaze with revenge. After treating him like a child, telling her she had a motherly instinct would sting her just as much.

The doctor broke in,

"About the whole "it" thing? Would you like to know the sex?"

"I don't care, why would it matter? Whatever's coming out I'm not prepared for, ask him." She pointed at her partner, who still had his hands shoved in his pockets, swaying from side to side.

"Hmm me? Oh Mare, that's your decision, it's your baby.."

"C'mon doofus, it's your baby too- she stopped herself too late-"I didn't mean-

"It's okay- _we _are having a baby Mary, if you really want my opinion? Yes, I want to know." His heart fluttered with excitement, and he couldn't contain his smile.

The doctor had been watching awaiting an answer; Mary glanced over at the her, trying to hide her own smirk,

"You heard the man…" she muttered.

She nodded in agreement and squirted the gel onto Mary's seemingly ever expanding stomach.

In a few short seconds the silence of the room was filled with the rhythmic sound of,

"THWUMPSH, THWUMPSH, THWUMPSH."

"Is it okay?" Mary asked, doing her best to hide the actual worry in her tone,

"Yes, HE'S fine, strong little heart beat your son has!"

"Really? It's a boy?" Marshall asked.

"Yes 'Daddy', it is!" the lady answered matching the excitement in his tone.

He kissed Mary on her forehead, and grabbed her hand,

"Mare I- are you crying?" he asked in disbelief,

"Oh shut up douche, I- I never thought I'd be one of those blubbering women, wh-who cried at this sort of thing, so much for not being a grotesque stereotype, huh?"

"Mary it's totally normal for you to feel-

"If you haven't noticed by now, nothing I am is normal, nothing I do is normal! Most women they get married, and then they have a baby because they want to, not because they're forced into it. And most women who say they are putting up their babies for adoption because that's what's best for them, do it! They don't keep it and raise it to be all screwed up like they are! I don't want to hurt him Marshall, I don't want to hurt him the way my parents did to me!"

"Mare! If _you _haven't noticed, you're not your parents! You're not your mom or your dad! What they did to you, you won't do to him! You're more than that! You're an amazing person and he's lucky to have you as his mother, even if you did call him an "it" the past eight months!"

She giggled a little, and looked around, realizing the doctor had left.

"I don't think that's what I'm worried about."

He thought for a moment,

"You're not worried about me… Are you?"

"I-I don't know." She whimpered.

"The last thing you need to be worrying about is me walking out! You're stuck with me Mary! Whether you like it or not I'm gonna be standing over your shoulder making sure you raise that kid right! You hear me?"

"I don't want to lose you."

"You won't. What can I do to assure you that you won't ever lose me?"

"Oh Marshall, I couldn't tell you, All I know is I let Raph go, and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done…"

"Are you saying you want _Raph_ back?" he questioned, furrowing his brow, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Jesus NO! Let me finish doofus! I'm trying to say that just _thinking _about losing you, hurts a million times more than having_ experienced_ Raph go! Seven of my lifetimes worth of pain couldn't possibly add up to how it would feel if I had this baby with you and then one day, you finally saw me for who I was, and just left."

"I will never leave, I love you. I want to be with you. I'm good for you. How can I prove it to you?"

_( I hope what's coming next isn't too obvious, I know this isn't my best, but it's certainly not my worst, and I still kinda enjoyed it when I read through, I just try to make it seem possible for this to be played through by Mary McCormack and Fred Weller before I posted, and I think you can see the Mary and Marshall dynamic in here… Comments are much appreciated, thanks for reading )_


	4. Here's Your ChanceThere it goes

_(I apologize for the long overdue update, my computer has been overrun with viruses and will have to be wiped clean as of tonight, so I'm not necessarily sure when the next update will come after this, I'll try and leave you on the edge of your seats, Happy reading, comments are always welcome! )_

Mary opened her eyes, expecting Marshall's calm brown eyes to greet her, but only to be met by a whiff of his aftershave and her partner nowhere to be found. She thought back to earlier, clearly if his scent still remained she hadn't imagined all of this evening had she? She looked for any sign of him, his coat, his sunglasses, but nothing of Marshalls caught her eye. To imagine him having been there and to imagine everything she had said was near impossible to her, and she found her heart rate slowly increasing as she thought about every possible place he could be that wasn't there with her. Mary took a deep breath when she realized her face was beginning to feel hot at the mere thought that Marshall had left her, in the middle of the night to be with Abigail. In every way that would make more sense than him having stayed to watch her sleep, after all Mary wasn't with him, he loved Abigail.

She took another deep breath, what was she doing? She was letting herself become the grotesque hormonal stereotype she had promised herself she would never become, so what if she had dreamt it all up? She was under a lot of stress, she was on a very strong drug to stop the progression of her labor, there were nearly a million reasons she could think of for having imagined her confessing her love to her partner… Or were they excuses? Mary Shannon looked up just in time to watch the door open, and Marshall enter.

"Mare, I'm sorry, I tried to get back before you woke up, I really would have preferred you not being met by and empty, cold hospital room, if you look around you'll see the way each wall is painted pure or off white, as to give people the feeling that its cleaner than most establishments…" she stared at him blankly, now that he was back, it was scarier for her to think all of those things had _actually_ happened, that she had _actually _said all of those words, Marshall smirked innocently,

"It's true…"

"I can't believe this is happening…"

"That hospitals are painted white for a psychological purpose?" he asked confused.

"Where did you go doofus? I was beginning to think you had gotten mowed down by a bus or something, well a smart car at least- a bus is too exciting for Albuquerque…" she reasoned aloud.

"No, I went out to get coffee, and I made a phone call- horrible reception in here." He sipped at the foam cup in his hand and ruffled his short brown hair. Marshall walked toward Mary, yawning as he sat down in the empty chair and placed his coffee on the nightstand.

"You look like crap. Who did you call?"

"Your mother. Why does it matter?"

"Jeez you don't have to be a douche, I was just trying to make awkward hospital conversation, I thought of all people you'd appreciate the fact that I'm even giving a damn right now… Why did you call my mother?"

"Forget about that now, for a person who slept for four and a half hours in labor without waking up you sure are grumpy. Any other woman on this floor would kill to sleep that long in your condition."

"Marshall it's not a God damn condition! I don't have tuberculosis, I wasn't in some sort of accident, I don't even think you treated me like this much of a wounded koala when I got shot, Jesus Christ lay off of me…"

"Excuse me, I didn't realize the fact that I care about you pissed you off so much.." he teased.

"Well it does and the fact that I love you pisses me the hell off too!" she yelled.

"Why does it piss you off? You're a human being- you _feel_. You can't be some robotic, unfriendly, in human cop, everyone will hate you, in fact because you try and be like that and you try to make it obvious to people around you that you could care less about what they mean to you people hate you before they get to see the Mary I love."

"What do you see in me that makes you want to stay? What about me draws you in?" she questioned angrily.

"For one, you're beautiful."

"Please Marshall don't start that bull shit, any other day I'd take that compliment, but of all times to tell me I'm beautiful it wouldn't be now, not when I look like a house and my hairs going every which way…"

"Shut up and let me finish."

Mary closed her mouth, aggressive Marshall wasn't, he was in an off mood, it was easy to tell when he had something up his sleeve. She eyed him suspiciously.

"Number two, I don't see the sarcastic, heartless woman everyone else does, I know who you are. And three, I've spent the last five years of my life trying to work with you and live another life with another woman, but Mary that is literally impossible. I can't wake up in the morning, go to work and then at night when I take my badge off magically stop loving you. It doesn't work like that."

"Marshall please-

"No, I'm going to finish whether you like it or not."

"Never in my entire life was I as happy when you told me you were pregnant, but at the same time, it threw me for a loop. I loved Abigail, but I couldn't help but feel this intense aversion for myself and for Mark…"

"Why yourself? Why Mark!"

"That's what I was trying to figure out and it occurred to me, I hated Mark because he got you pregnant by mistake, and he was trying to be a father to your baby on purpose, when I would have given anything to have had a chance to be the one going through this with you. Lastly I hated myself for loving Abigail when I was already in love with you…."

"Marshall I don't think now's the time to be telling me all of this…"

"Me neither."

"Then why are you?" she argued.

"I want you to know how I feel..." his face twisted into a look of pain that Mary had never seen on him, a look of hurt that she had hoped she would never cause.

"I think you know how _I _feel and I think you know that _we_ –she gestured- wouldn't be normal, in all honesty it can't be normal- Marshall I do love you, but I don't think this is gonna work. It hasn't been easy for me to watch you move on, but I think I've done it. I think you should be with Abigail."

"I don't." He answered flatly. "Why don't you ask me why I called your mother again?" he added.

"That's a shitty way to change the subject Marshall, you think I'm that dumb, do you know me? I'm not going to forget about it two seconds after your pour your heart out to me.."

"Mary?"

"And another thing!-

"Mary?"

"WHAT?"

"I don't want you to forget, I just want you to ask me why I called your mother.."

"Are you trying to play one of your stupid mind games? You know I don't fall for those! Why did you call my mother Marshall huh?"

"Call me old fashioned, but I needed her blessing."

"Why the hell would you need her-

He pulled something from his pocket,

"Marshall, please no tiny boxes today, no tiny-

"Mary, I love you."

"Marshall, seriously I'm begging you...-

"And I want you to be with me…" he continued, smirking at her inability to find a snide remark.

"I can't."

"But you can, I want you to marry me, I want you, Mary Shannon to marry me and I want you to have this baby, and I want this baby to have me as their dad." He urged. The amount of conviction in his voice was almost convincing enough to make any normal woman say yes ten times over. Marshall continued to stare into her contorted face, but disconnected from her gaze as a loud cry filled the air,

"AHH!" she yelled clutching at the blankets.

"Oh c'mon Mary that's low, don't fake a contraction…" he whined, standing up from his knees.

"I- I'm NOOTT, AHHH Marshall- she looked at her hand and then at Marshall, who stood there, staring horrified at Mary's crimson soaked blankets, from just below her waist down to her feet the blood was seeping into the snowy white hospital sheets and it covered her hand.

"I'm bleeding…" she whispered before Marshall watched her eyes flutter shut and the sound of the heart monitor began scream at him. He could barely believe the speed her heart decelerated and the swarm of staff that surrounded his partner. Marshall stared through the crowd of medical personnel bewildered at the pale visage of Mary Shannon. The tiny box with the ring he knew was always destined to be on her hand slipped through his fingers onto the worn tile of the hospital room floor.


	5. Please Don't Leave Me

_(Ill be honest, drama is not my bit, I'm not good at it, so I hope with every ounce of my being you enjoy this next installment, please comment, constructive criticism is welcome, but be easy on me ;) Thanks to everyone who has commented and favorite both myself and this story, I am truly flattered, enjoy!)_

"WHAT THE HELL'S HAPPENING?" Marshall screamed at the people swarming around his partner,

_"Sir, we are going to have to ask you to step back!" _

"NO! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED, MAKE IT STOP!"

_"There isn't anything we can do until her doctor examines her!"_

"_Clearly, _there is something wrong! Are you too thick headed to see the god damn blood? Jesus Christ!" he continued.

Marshall watched, his eyes bulging from his skull, the vein in his forehead nearly exploding from his face as the woman who had been tending to Mary threw on some rubber gloves,

_"We have a ruptured placenta! We have to prep her for an emergency C-Section!" _she ordered to the staff around her, ignoring Marshall and his worried tears pouring down his cheeks.

He began to shake his head wildly, barely believing his ears until the monitor began to scream once more. The words,

_"She's crashing"_ filled up the hollow area in his mind, where his usually calm and sound brain occupied rather than the panic and emptiness he had to put up with right now.

This time two nurses shoved him to the wall, while another worked on Mary,

_"We need a crash cart, all right everyone, CLEAR!" _

Marshall sobbed as he watched her body absorb the shock with a violent upward motion, but the heart monitor continued to scream,

"No, PLEASE! THIS IS THE WOMAN I LOVE, PLEASE DON'T LET ME LOSE HER, I ALMOST DID ONCE ALREADY!" he had made his way back toward the still seemingly lifeless Mary, but again was shoved back,

_"Get him out of here! One, two, three, CLEAR!" _the young doctor demanded. Again, Mary absorbed the shock violently,

"PLEASE! MARY, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" Marshall begged to her unresponsive body.

"_I'm not going to say this again. ..HERE!" _This time the two ladies that had been trying to keep Marshall at a distance, started to struggle to get him out the door, and finally after putting up a fight for about thirty seconds his knees buckled, making it exponentially easier for them to effortlessly push him out of the room.

They closed the door in his face, but he still sat, listening and weeping,

"_One, two, three, CLEAR!" _And then there was silence. He sat there, breathing as quietly as possible, and listening with more intent, letting the horrifying reel of the screaming monitors and lifeless Mary take hold of him.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Contrary to popular belief, you could hear silence, and it was deafening.

He stood up to peek through the window, but there was no use, Marshall remained for what seemed like forever waiting outside, but in actuality it was only really thirty seconds at the most when the door burst open, from the room, the nurses were pulling his partner, was she dead?

_"Sir, are you the father?" _But he couldn't speak.

"_Sir, we have to get Ms. Shannon down to the O.R for an emergency C-Section, a nurse will lead you to the waiting room…"_

"No! I want to go in!" He argued as he maintained pace with the nurses pulling Mary away.

"M-marshalll.." Mary groaned. His heart jumped up into his throat, surprised to hear her, surprised she could even be awake, and he turned toward her without losing his steady speed to keep up with the bed. He grabbed her hand,

"What Mare?" he asked,

"I-

"What?" he cried.

"I-I don't. I don't want you to leave me…" she sputtered, her words coming in slurs.

"I won't, I love you Mary and you know that!"

"I mean- don't leave me _ever._" She repeated again.

"You're not saying?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, his rejection bubbling up from his heart to be replaced by hope.

"I am- I want to marry yyyouuuuu…" she whispered again before she turned her head away to let her eyes close once more.

"Why did she? MARY!" Marshall ran his finger through her damp blonde hair, "Come back." He begged.

_"Sir, we have to turn into the O.R now, you're going to have to follow-_

**"I'm not leaving!"**

_"FINE! THEN GO WITH THE NURSE TO GET SCRUBS!" _The young woman huffed in a bout of rage, pointing in the direction of a girl tapping her foot furiously on the floor. Marshall took no time; he slid into the garments that were handed to him in a matter of seconds, tying his cap to conceal his messy brown locks and then a mask to hide most of his worry twisted face. The girl dragged him into the room, where he immediately ran toward his partner.

"_Just another Dad, who thinks he should be in the delivery room, when he shouldn't be…." _He heard the doctor mumble through her mask.

He stumbled over to Mary. Marshall looked down at her, her eyes were shut and her face didn't have the normal rosy undertone it usually had, he tried to write off the fact that only a few minutes ago she had slipped through his fingers, at that moment he found that even a baby, a little Mary, couldn't have fixed not having _her_. Even now it wouldn't be the same, because he wasn't even sure if there was a baby anymore. He wanted a baby, but he wanted Mary. He wasn't God, he didn't want to think about something like that. He wouldn't ever want to have to choose.

Marshall, looked over the curtain they had put up to block her from seeing even though she was unconscious, and probably so hopped up on pain meds it didn't even matter if she saw it or not. Slowly the doctor made an incision; Marshall looked away, not in disgust, but because he knew Mary wouldn't have let him watch if she had been awake. Even at deaths door she was beautiful he thought,

"_I have the head." _ He looked up, as if in mistrust to see the doctor had successfully displaced the head from Mary's abdomen, it was nearly a sight out of a horror movie, what was normally a very clean and amazing experience for women was of course going to be like hell for Mary Shannon, how could Marshall expect anything different? The amount of blood rising up from her womb was massive and he found his stomach doing flips at the sight of it, he settled his turning stomach and focused his attention back down to Mary.

"All right Mare, ready or not, you're gonna be a mother after all…" he whispered, choking back tears, wondering if it was even possible for her to survive something as visually psychologically scarring as he had just witnessed.

_"The baby is out!" _Another woman came to take the baby away, they gave him no update, they told him nothing about the child, but simply whisked it away, and then began to work on Mary,

_"I'm removing the placenta, have abdominal packing at the ready to stop this bleeding." _He watched as the doctors hands moved quickly while Mary's heart started to climb and fall, climb and fall.

_"It looks like I'll be able to save the reproductive organs, hand me the clamp and the sutures."_

Marshall cringed at the sound of the tools clanging together,

_"I'm removing the abdominal packing- bleeding has been controlled I need suction." _

Again, the monitors began to screech,

_"We're losing her." _Echoed through the O.R and at that moment whether it was the gut wrenching sounds of the suction or the mind boggling screech of the medical equipment, he stood up only to feel his knees buckle under him again and he was met with sheer darkness.


	6. No Promises

_(I'm home, and this is why this will be the second update of tonight, I really enjoy writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I love posting, please comment )_

"Ughhh…jeez."

"Wow."

"God, my head, what the hell did I do?"

"This is absolutely pathetic, I die, like four times, and you get all the attention because _you _conk out in the delivery room!"

"It was three, and I really don't appreciate-

His eyes shot open,

"MARY?"

"In the flesh, simmer down, you must have sprained your brain or something Marshall.." she swallowed through her quavering voice.

"I'm just so glad- he began,

"Marshall?" she interrupted.

"What?"

"I'm not pregnant anymore- her lip quivered- and no one has told me anything about the baby-

"I'll find someone." He rose slowly,

"Thank you…" Mary replied meekly.

"I'll do anything for you Mare, why don't you try and rest, kay?"

"I can't, Marshall I had a baby today and I don't even know if I need pink or blue clothes." She tried to joke, but her voice was hoarse, and tears had begun to fall.

He walked over,

"Don't be upset, I'm sure everything is fine, don't cry, you've been through a lot today, close your eyes and I'll go find your baby." He soothed, stroking her chin, while she grimaced. He started making his way to the door, but she stopped him,

"Marshall?"

"Yes?" He turned back around to make eye contact.

"_Our_ baby."

"What?'

"You're going to find _our _baby." She corrected.

"Yes Mary, I'm going to find_ our_ baby." He smiled, but as he closed the door, he nearly crumpled back down to the floor as he flashed back to just a few hours ago, watching the nurses scoop up the still child and taking him or her away. He recalled the way they handled the baby, carefully, but for the life of him he couldn't remember how big he or she was or if they had been breathing or not. All of the important details were missing in his head, but the images of Mary lying mostly lifeless on the O.R table for the moments before he passed out were still vivid in his mind. He shook them away, and walked toward the nurses' station,

"My child was born about three hours ago, and my fiancée had to be rushed to delivery and she started hemorrhaging and I would sure like to assume that that's the only reason we haven't been updated." Marshall could barely think, and the fact that he could form full, grammatically correct English sentences was enough for him at that moment.

"I'll just look it up, what's the name?"

"Mary Shannon."

She typed and typed and then typed some more and just when Marshall knew Mary would have clocked her, she stopped.

"Are you the father?" she asked flatly, barely making it a question.

"Yes, I am." Marshall responded without breaking. It _felt_ like his baby. He _felt_ like Mary's child's dad.

"If you'll follow me?" she said waving her hand in the opposite direction.

"Sure thing." He replied.

She led him through a hallway and then a waiting room; he looked around to be met by a face he hadn't exoected to see,

"Brandi?" he asked.

"Oh Marshall!" she came over and grabbed him in a hug.

"Brandi, where's Jinx, and Peter and everyone?"

"Mom's in the cafeteria and she's not too pleased with me, Mark is gone. I don't know where he went, but I had left and I went straight to Mary's and then he came storming in, grabbed his bag and left before I could even ask him what had happened. When Mary answered her cell phone I was afraid to tell her I hadn't _exactly _run away- anyway, is everything all right?"

She asked.

"I think so, right now, Mary is up and stable."

"And the baby?"

"That's where I'm trying to get right now, and I don't wanna be rude Brandi, but I wanna get there without Jinx hounding me okay?"

"No, really go! But come back! And tell us what happened, they won't let us see her."

"Can do!" he called back as he rushed off with the now impatient nurse.

"Right this way." He sighed in disdain when he realized they had passed the nursery, their hope for a healthy baby had been spat upon, now he could only hope that the child took after his or her mother, he only hoped he or she was as strong as Mary, he would even take hardheaded and stubborn if the baby would just have one _ounce_ of Mary's strength in them. His steps became smaller as they got closer to the NICU, and his heart thumped with a sort of sadness he knew he wouldn't be shaking for a while.

She opened a door, talked to another nurse and began her trek back to the nurses' station,

"Now Sir, if you could put these things on you can see your baby." She smiled.

He wondered how she could possibly be smiling; he looked around through the glass at each tiny, little human, attached to tube after tube, and wire after wire. The monitors beeped simultaneously, but none were in sync, that room had the potential to drive Marshal Marshall Mann insane, but he took a deep breath and slid on yet another pair of scrubs. He felt guilty for seeing the baby before Mary, but he had to, he had to be able to look her in the eye and _tell _her she had a baby-not take a doctors word for it, she would never take a doctors word for it.

"Follow me." The nurse gestured, "Baby Shannon? Is that correct?"

"Umm yeah, that would be my child." He answered, giving the room a complete once over.

"Right here."

He looked down, and he felt his lip quiver, and tears spring to his eyes, a tiny, little baby lay in the incubator, tubes leading from its mouth to machines, wires connected to its chest.

"Congratulations, you have a son, when he was born he weighed four pounds, two ounces, and he was fifteen inches long."

"Hello baby boy." Marshall looked down at the little guy, he had most of Mary's features, it was funny, and he looked so much like her even though she hadn't wanted him, what a horrible thought.

"If you just slide your hands into here, you can hold him, but you have to be very gentle."

"I can?"

"Yes. It will be quite a bit of time before he can be moved…"

"When can Mary see him?" That was what he was really worried about.

"When she's healed." The woman answered.

"Ma'am, that won't be for quite a while yet, she's recovering from a placental rupture, which could take weeks."

"I'm sorry, the thing about premature babies is that they're unpredictable, you got lucky."

"Lucky? Do you go around telling mothers and fathers that_ just_ because your kid can't breathe on its own their lucky?" he replied in outrage.

"No sir."

Marshall slid his hands into the incubator and placed his gloved finger into the tiny palm of his son's hand,

"It's okay little guy, Daddy Marshall will make sure you get to meet your mommy soon… She's an amazing person, really she is…" He held him briefly, but fear stopped him from cuddling the baby any longer.

"Am I allowed to take one picture?"

"Just one, but from over here." The nurse pointed to a few inches away.

Marshall took out his flip phone and snapped a shot of the baby.

"Thank you. I should really be getting back." He said mechanically.

With that, he pried of the scrubs and threw them away, he really didn't want to leave, but he had to go see Mary.

It seemed like an eternity walking back to her room. He passed the waiting room, dodging Brandi and Jinx, they were the last people he wanted to see right now.

He entered the room,

"Ahem, Marshall?" Mary asked her eyes closed.

"Yeah it's me."

"Ohhh no."

"What?" he asked worriedly.

"You have that _sound_ in your voice…"

"What sound?" he asked, wrinkling his brow.

"The 'I've got some bad news' sound."

"He's fine." He said softly.

"He?"

"Yeah, he, and he's beautiful, do you want to see him?"

"Haha, is he Marshal material?" she joked before she could see the picture.

"Not quite yet, but I think with a little work we can get him there." He flipped open his phone and stared at the picture, while slowly he made his way to Mary. Marshall held the flip phone in her view, and watched as her eyes glistened with more tears.

"He's so tiny… I didn't know babies could be that tiny."

"The nurse in the NICU said we were lucky." He tried to repeat the words as if they hadn't offended him the first time around.

"H-how how much does he weigh?"

"Four pounds two ounces, fifteen inches long."

"Wow…" she mumbled.

"What?"

"I made that?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah you did." He laughed.

"I didn't know the little parasite would be so cute." Mary admitted.

"Yeah, you might have to lay off on calling him a parasite, for like, I don't know, forever? Because I don't know about you, but I would like him _not _to need therapy by the age of seven." Marshall teased.

"Well I can't promise that."

"We've got one little problem." He added.

"Is everything okay?" she asked looking up from the picture suddenly.

"Yes Mary, he's fine for now, but he needs a name."

She cocked her head to one side, ran her fingers through her hair,

"Huh." She sighed.


	7. What Do You Say?

_(Hello there friends, this shall be yet another update, hope you enjoy more than the last, not quite finished with this fic yet- ill probably stretch it out for as long as possible…. Love the comments Please enjoy and read read read Comments are always welcomed and much appreciated!)_

_One Week Later-_

"Baby update!" Marshall smiled as he burst through the door of Mary's new recovery room, smiling exuberantly at his cell phone.

Mary looked over her shoulder from her chair by the window; sitting in her sweat pants and T-shirt Stan had so kindly brought her a week ago. Just today they had finally let her wear her own clothes, it was a total relief. Mary couldn't stand the fact that if she sneezed, suddenly her boob would fall out of her gown- and forget reaching for anything more than three feet away, she couldn't count how many times Marshall had seen her ass in the past week either. She stood up ever so slowly, biting her nails. Thoughts arose in her head that she always tried to push aside during these updates, she hadn't even met her own son yet and she was still trying to convince herself she loved him. Mary always heard of stories how mothers took one look at their babies and loved them-but how could she love a child she hadn't even met? How could she feel motherly, when she had been unconscious through the whole birth, or have a bond like every other mother on this floor when she hadn't even gotten to hold him yet?

"They haven't weighed him yet today, but I think he looks bigger!" Marshall said hopefully, his eyes sparkling joyfully. He had really stepped up the past week, bringing Mary little prizes, taking pictures of the baby whenever he could, keeping Jinx away at all costs, all of the things that made Mary happy. He was willing to do anything and that included telling his soon to be mother in law that Mary was always be napping when she came around or answering her phone calls from Brandi, using the same excuse, but with way less guilt.

Mary held the phone in her hands,

"He does look bigger!" she sighed, little excitement filling her tone.

"And guess what?"

"What?" She looked up, her voice not even displaying half the excitement of his.

"He breathes on his own now! Tonight they're taking him off of the machines and they'll closely monitor him, if he keeps breathing by himself through tonight, they're gonna transfer him to the nursery just down the hall!"

"What?" she asked again, rage bubbling from her throat rather than the happiness Marshall was feeling.

"Mary, that's a good thing!" he reassured.

"No! They're gonna take my kid, _my _kid, the tiny creature that fed off of _me_, that was inside _me_ for thirty two weeks off of the machines that have been keeping him alive this past week, nuh uh, no way Marshall Mann you cannot let that go down, I swear I will never forgive you!" she huffed, out of breath,

"You're not being rational! Mare, they'll be a nurse watching him like a hawk all night long, they aren't going to lock him in a tiny room by himself, while he lies in a bassinet for eight hours! This is it! This could be the turning point; we might be able to take him home soon!" Marshall argued in a fatherly tone, one of which Mary was still getting used to, she hadn't found her motherly tone, hell she still wasn't sure she had one, and was worried that she would never have one.

"Marshall?" she found herself crying- again. This had been happening since the day after the delivery, when she was happy, sometimes when she was sad, most of the time for no reason at all. It figured that one of the symptoms she had managed to avoid for nearly seven months had come back to bite her in the ass.

"Oh, c'mon, I didn't mean to yell." He held her in a tight embrace.

"I'm not upset, it's this stupid hormones thing, I-I can't help it!" she sobbed.

"Shhhh." He soothed, taking her left hand,

"This is well overdue." He smiled sliding a tiny ring onto her finger, "Not to mention all I could manage that night, there aren't many jewelry stores within walking distance, really not many jewelry stores at all in Albuquerque to be totally honest…"

"Oh thank you Marshall- it's wow, that's small?" she looked down expecting a tiny fleck of diamond, but a tiny rock on her hadn't seemed to be weighing her down/

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd like my Grandmothers ring.." he admitted, showing off how much he knew his partner.

"What is it, a ruby with a gold band?" she retorted, trying to be cunning.

"Yeahhhh." He admitted.

"Oh." Mary was surprised, usually she could never guess correctly while trying to be sarcastic.

"You're gonna get hell from your mother aren't you?" Mary asked.

"Yeaaaahhh" he answered again still holding her in his arms.

She looked down at the ring again and her heart fluttered. With what she wasn't sure, this was making it so real, and nothing seemed real right now. She couldn't imagine what it was going to be like, finally meeting her kid and realizing this wasn't some sort of sick dream she had thought up, or she wasn't in the twilight zone. Marshall's eyes gleamed, and he practically glowed with happiness the last few days. She felt happy, but there was something missing, something she felt that was just off. Of course she felt hollow, but not emotionally, more like literally. The person who had been taking up space in her uterus had just been evicted by his defective placenta. Leave it to her and Mark to give the kid a defective something. Oh yeah and Mark, he had disappeared, not that she actually cared, but she wasn't sure what she was gonna do. Now it was clear she was keeping her baby-maybe he left thinking she was going to give him up for adoption, maybe he left because he knew he had no chance. It was all just a big mess. She had no idea what she wanted, but she knew she wanted Marshall. And if she wanted Marshall, and if that kid was anything like her, he'd want Marshall. At this point he had no choice, the baby had no say, Mary had signed her name on the birth certificate, and Marshall had signed his.

Marshall's head shot toward the door as the doctor walked in.

"Mary?" the woman asked. Apparently, after someone cuts you open and prevents your baby from being drowned in placenta goop it's an automatic switch to a first name basis.

"Yes?"

"I just want to take a look at your incision…"

"Oh great!"

This was always the part that had Marshall shaking with eagerness. He knew that when that doctor finally cleared Mary free of any infections, she'd finally get to meet their son.

Mary hobbled over to the bed, clearly still sore. Marshalls heart raced with suspense as the doctor lifted Mary's shirt and peeled the bandages away to reveal the still nasty looking wound. Just as his heart fell, the woman smiled,

"Lookin good! Wanna go for a little walk?"

"Where?" Mary asked, obviously off in her own little world.

"To meet your son." The doctor urged.

"Oh, HOLY CRAP! What?"

Marshall grabbed Mary by the hand!

"You're gonna be amazed by how much he looks like you." He smiled.

"I'm if- what if he doesn't like me?" She asked with so much innocence in her tone, Marshall would have felt bad to laugh.

"Mary, your being ridiculous! He loves you!"

"I haven't even met the kid yet!" Mary couldn't even convince herself she wasn't making excuses.

"You _made_ him! Isn't that reason enough?" he asked frustrated.

"Yeah and wanted outs from my womb early! I haven't even seen my own son in person yet and I've already screwed up!"

"Mary, for the _final _time, you didn't screw up, those things happen! He is a healthy little guy, the whole lungs thing is just a setback!"

"Oh yeah, I popped the dud out early, he couldn't breathe on his own and it's just a setback? Where is your head doofus?" She questioned.

"Maybe setback's not the word! C'mon Mare! You have to meet him, I promise you'll never love someone more! Please? Don't be afraid anymore! Besides, he can't be Baby Shannon Mann forever! Everyone thinks we gave him a girl's name. You said you wanted to see him before we named him, this is our chance! Let's go name our baby!" smiling, confident he had convinced her this time, Marshall held out his hand.

Mary hesitated but finally grasped it,

"Okay Marshall, let's go name our baby."


	8. Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?

(_I really enjoyed this chapter, I feel like the last couple have been so overrun with drama, I tried- key word- tried to incorporate more Marshall, Mary humor… Please Enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! Comments are always welcomed and much appreciated!)_

Mary timed her steps with the beat of her racing heart as they approached the NICU. The nurse handed her a pair of scrubs and smiled as she fumbled around,

"Mary Shannon? Are you nervous?" Marshall asked playfully.

"What? No! Silly doofus, nerves are for wimps." She replied.

As the door slid open, and the smell of sterilized everything filled her nostrils, her eyes seemed to dart around, and she nearly burst into tears. For some reason she had thought she'd be able to recognize her own baby. Maybe she was just going stir crazy, being confined to the hospital all this time…

"Where is he Marshall?" she asked, her heart in her throat.

"He's right over there, in the incubator that has its top off, it's all right, go see him!" Marshall gently nudged her forward.

She walked over, and looked down at the tiny blue bundle,

"Hello little guy!" She smiled, pulling the blanket away to reveal his face. Mary looked at the little boy with new found love. Unashamed she let herself cry,  
>"Daddy has had you all to himself hasn't he? Well that's certainly gonna change- Mary turned to Marshall- this one's actually cute…" she cooed, letting him wrap his tiny hand around her pointer finger.<p>

"Can she hold him?" Marshall asked, resisting the urge to tell his partner 'I told you so'.

"Of course!" The nurse said, turning back around from tending to another baby.

"All right there Mare, just make sure you support his head-

"Oh c'mon doofus, I'm not a monster, I won't eat him or anything! I've held babies before!"

She took a longer look at the tiny infant, only one tube ran up through his tiny nose, Marshall beamed as he watched Mary, _his _cold, socially awkward Mary handle another human being with the tenderness and the love he had always known she would someday give to another human being. The last week had been anything but engagement bliss for them, a messy delivery of their sick newborn, a few days in between of some serious bouts of Mary grumpiness which drove Marshall to the NICU for hours at a time with a mixture of Jinx and Brandi- it had been anything pleasant, but he knew that fate had been putting him through this hell for this moment.

Mary cradled the baby in her arms,

"I know this is impossible, but I think he looks like you…" she breathed, her cheeks burning with the way she so obviously acted naïve.

"You think? I know he definitely has your eyes…" he smiled.

"Marshall?"

"Yeah Mare?" he asked, with his arm around her and his big hand outlining the tiny foot of his son.

"I-I'm not good with names and stuff- I figure, maybe you could name him? I mean, if I do- the name could mean something like 'snail' or "slimy invertebrate' with you, I know he'll have a good, strong name…" she trailed off.

"Mare- I would be honored…"

"But I do have one request?"

"And what's that?" he asked, the pride practically spewing from his voice.

"His middle name should be Marshall." She said adamantly.

"Oh, you don't have to-

"I don't have to, but I _want_ to, I probably wouldn't be here right now… Here with a baby, engaged…. Happy." She admitted, her eyes filling with more tears- "Jesus, when am I gonna stop crying?" she asked turning away from the nurse and looking away from her son,

"I don't think that's the hormones Mare…" Marshall smirked, wrapping his arms around her tighter than before.

In a short time they were forced to go back to Mary's room, which Marshall always found so hard, especially since forever didn't seem like long enough with that little boy, but this time around, he didn't realize that Mary would have put up the fight she had. After literally an entire half hour of trying to get his fiancée to stop arguing with the NICU nurse, he had to go all Marshall-pedia on her-

"Mary." He said, "Being around him for so long puts him at risk of infections, because he was born prematurely-

But he didn't even have to finish, Mary had put down the baby, her hands held up in surrender, sarcasm spewing from her mouth as she retreated out of the NICU.

Later that night, while Mary lay awake she couldn't help but remember the tiny face, and she couldn't help but know this was only the beginning. She knew it would get harder, as her hard blue eyes stabbed like knives into the ceiling of the hospital room, she found herself smiling. Something she hadn't done in a long time, she had spent so long dreading being pregnant, and convincing everyone including herself she was just "protecting" and then "relocating" that maybe this strange un- Mary like week had been the jerk she needed to get the stick out from up her ass into an actual life. From the darkness, Marshall's smooth voice filled the silence of the air, and the spaces in between her thoughts, sending chills up and down her spine.

"Mary?" he asked with uncertainty.

"Yeah doofus?" she answered, hiding her satisfaction that he too was awake.

"What do you think about Xander Marshall Shannon Mann?"

"Xander?" She thought back to her son's face, the name was truly a match, "I think you're on to something…" she added, showing the approval within her tone, like she was so famous for doing.

"Good." Since the day Mary had told him she was pregnant, his daydreams began to fill with ideas of names for the emerald eyed, thin lipped little girl or boy growing inside of his partner, although he could never tell her that- a scenario of her calling him a "dick" or some kind of "fetish freak" played over in his mind each time he came close to admitting it to her.

Both of them laid there in satisfaction,

"Doof, why don't you come up on the bed with me? Those chairs can't be comfortable…" Mary urged, patting an empty space on the bed.

"Mary, aren't you still sore?" he asked thoughtfully, that day just a week ago flashed back through his mind, sending his palms in a cold sweat like it had consistently done every time it came up within his head.

"Forget about it- she answered playfully- being sawed in half was just another titillating experience I can add to the 'things that I haven't wanted to do, but was forced into doing, because there's always a dire emergency that forces me to do them' list."

He chuckled, and carefully settled into her bed, she put her head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart, and suddenly she felt a pang of guilt-

"Marshall, I know this hasn't been the ideal relationship so far, but I'm trying, and you know I'm not very good at this whole _thing,_-her eyes widened for emphasis out of habit with the blackness- and I want you to know, that it was never the drugs talking, every time I said 'I loved you' it was me. The drugs were just a cover, in case you didn't feel the same way." She stuttered.

"It's okay Mary. You've given me everything I've ever wanted just in this week. You had a baby with me, you got engaged to me, and you told me you loved me- the rest of my life with you will just be bonus."

"Oh alright- don't get too mushy on me doofus…" Mary teased.

"Hey, you're the one who said you'd take me and that means mush and all Mare- you're gonna have to get used to it."

"Just don't go reciting Shakespeare soliloquys to the kid kay? If this little guy grows up a mini Marshall-pedia, I swear I'll smack you so hard all of Albuquerque will hear your ears ringing."

He laid there for a moment, basking in her sarcasm, letting her suffer in the silence, because he knew she was burning inside for him to react, finally she gave up,

"What! No taken aback, defensive speech about how my sarcasm doesn't make friends, or it hurts your feelings? Really Marshall? One week engaged to you and I already have you whipped?"

"I've realized your sarcasm is equivalent to a cat's purr, it just means your content, you mean no harm by it, it's your sign of affection, and I take it with pleasure…" he retorted.

"It's flattering that someone finally understands me…"

She breathed in the sweet smell of Marshall,

"Hey Mare?" he asked, this time his voice filled with fear-

"What Marshall mcdoofus face?" she answered as if burdened by him, but actually relieved to realize he hadn't fallen asleep.

"Are you gonna kiss me or not?" he asked like a teenager doing this for the first time.

Mary looked up, and locked lips with Marshall, this time, with every intention of not holding back, she inched closer and closer, and finally swung her legs over him. The exhilaration of finally being on top of Marshal Marshall Mann was almost enough to overcome the sharp pain that ran through her stomach,

"Jesus Christ." She cursed as she plopped back down onto the bed, trailing blood all the way across Marshall's white button up.


	9. Surprise

(_I would just like to reinforce the fact that, Mary's humor is difficult for me, but I love at least trying to write it… I, myself am a very quiet, soft spoken person- I try and save my sarcasm for this fic No, really! I hope it's coming out all right. Please Enjoy, I don't think I'll be making Mary bleed anymore to those of you concerned… this is the last time, I half- heartedly promise ;) Comments are always appreciated!)_

"I'm not sure if I mentioned this Mary, but it being so recent after major surgery, we recommend most women try and hold off from any sort of _physical _activity until they've fully healed." The doctor scolded half-heartedly at she re stapled the staple that Mary had managed to blow in her feeble attempt to be sexy. The doctor rubbed at her tired eyes, trying her best to not make eye contact with her patient. Of course Mary, now in somewhat of a bad mood, being tired and embarrassed, took this as an opportunity to spread her misery,

"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind…. So what's the problem doc, first time one of your patients has ever popped a stable trying to go down on their fiancée?" she questioned, even stronger sarcasm than usual dripping from her tone.

Marshall stood in the corner, in his undershirt, red with embarrassment,

"She wasn't really 'going down' on me per say…"

"You're not helping doofus." She raised her hand, halting him from speaking anymore.

"I- errr- I think while I'm here I'll go see how your son is doing…" she placed a new, snowy white bandage on to Mary's newly stapled, swollen incision area, tore the tight pink gloves from her tiny hands and disposed of them on the way out of the room.

"Way to make that uncomfortable! Seriously Mary?" Marshall whispered exasperated.

"What? I can't get any reaction from you anymore, I have to resort to people with PHD's you brought this on yourself."

"Now Stan's gonna have to grab you another T-Shirt before you can see the baby again!"

"Why? I have no shame; I'll walk down the hall topless if that's what I have to do! Just think, it would technically be community service, all of the pregnant broads would see me and out of fear that their bodies would look like mine after birth, they'd drop their kid on the spot! And if I'm lucky, a few will be so preoccupied with_ jealousy_ their kids will just fall out! That would be a win for everyone!" She joked, her teeth showing from her facetious smile.

"I think you need to sleep." Marshall concluded, sitting back down in his spot on the chair.

She looked at him, unintentionally her eyes widened in apology and hurt when she realized he hadn't laid back down with her.

"I think I'll wait for her to come back with an update on Xander." She mumbled.

"Mary, I'll wait, you should really rest- you look pale, you lost some blood, close your eyes- sleep." Marshall attempted to convince her the way he had been doing lately.

"Marshall, even if I tried, there would be no possible way for me to sleep, I think you know that."

He grabbed her hand, grasping it gently and they waited…

Mary opened her eyes as the sun came up; she swallowed with her dry throat, and reached for water, moving too quickly she recoiled in dull pain, pulling her hand from Marshalls, she lifted her shirt- as long as there was no gaping wound, she assumed she had done no real damage.

The door opened, and with her tired eyes she squinted to see who it was, it certainly wasn't her mother, and if it had been she assumed it was too late to convincingly pretend to be asleep.

"Hello Mary, someone wants to say 'good morning' to you." The doctor cooed, reaching into the rolling carrier to pull out her son.

She looked around confused, and nudged Marshall with her arm…

"Does he look bigger?" she asked him before he had a chance to actually open his eyes.

"You've got a good eye, guess who weighs five pounds, four ounces today?" the woman replied, handing Mary's blue bundle to her.

"Marshall!" she nudged again,

"Mhhmmmm, what?"

"We have a visitor!" Mary said.

"Oh Mare, I'm sorry, I was doing my best to keep Ji- What's he doing out of the NICU?" Marshall asked surprised, his eyes finally opening.

"Your little guy here spent a whole night, and he breathed on his own the entire time. When we weighed him this morning he was _just _right…"

"Does that mean?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, you can go home, but there are a couple conditions- mostly for mom. Mary you have to keep off your feet as much as possible and I expect both of you to call me, or bring him in straight away if you sense anything funky going on!"

" Really?" Mary looked up, from the baby, "Cause' I hear the condescending doctor talk for 'We can go' but I don't know if I can believe it."

"Believe it, we'll get you some receiving blankets, and a few diapers to go home with, a few bottles of formula and we can let you go." She smiled her hands in her coat pockets, "I'll give you some alone time, this might be a little hard to process right now- but I assure you, even if it start out bumpy, it will get better." And she walked away, and for the first time they were truly alone with their son.

"Didn't it already start off bumpy?" Mary asked.

"I'll call Stan to see if he can give us a ride home.." Marshall turned around and dialed the number.

Mary opened the door to her house, Marshall followed with the baby carrier he had to _walk_ to the store to get, and a hand me down diaper bag from the hospital nursery. She slowly made her way into her house, looking around she sighed,

"This may be the first time my house is actually empty whe-

"SURPRISE!" Brandi, Jinx and Stan yelled out.

"Oh noooo." Mary groaned turning away from the blue balloons and packages on the table near her couch.

"Wow, Stan, did you have anything to do with this?" Marshall asked, a little annoyance in his tone. All he wanted was some actual alone time with his fiancée and their baby, was that too much to ask? To actually feel like a little family?

"No, especially if Mary's ticked.." he answered, grinning nervously.

"Then I suggest you join Jinx and Brandi across the room, out of her striking distance." Marshall whispered, setting the baby down on the couch.

Mary stood there, annoyance rendering her speechless.

"We just figured, you had no baby shower, you would need a few things.."

"Mom, Squish, I really appreciate the whole-

"Hey Mary?" Stan interrupted.

"What Stan?" Mary turned, agitated.

"Is that an engagement ring on your finger?"

"No sh-

"AH- Not in front of Xander!" Marshall teased, covering his son's tiny ears with his index and middle fingers.

"Congratulations, I'm assuming Marshall's the lucky guy…" Stan continued.

"No Stan, me and some male nurse hit it off- he thinks scars are sexy and it just so happens thanks to this little guy, now I got two of em'!"

Marshall cringed, remembering the evening she got shot, knowing that was _one _of the scars she was referring to, that would be something he would never forgive himself for, and when he thought about it, maybe the whole delivery ordeal could have been avoided if had taken better care of her.

Stan stood a little dumbfounded, scratching his bald head.

"Yes Stan- It's Marshall." Mary sighed, disappointed that her sarcasm hadn't been on par lately.

"I'm glad you finally came around Mr. Mann!" Stan grinned, patting Marshall on the back.

Xander began to whimper and Jinx, faster than a speeding bullet reached for the baby quicker than Mary could have possibly reacted,

"Come here Xanderrr, grammaaa's gotchya!" Jinx cooed with a big smile.

"Gee Mare, your mom's a natural.." Marshall whispered as the baby quieted down in his future mother in laws arms.

"Yeah, well she has a lot of time to make up for, after all she was passed out for most of Brandi's infancy.." She replied, sighing as she sat down on the couch next to the empty baby carrier.

Marshall took a seat next to her, watching her expressions change while she watched her mother with their newborn.

Mary took a big bite of cake, and immediately spit it out on her napkin,

"What's that smell?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"It's him." Brandi pointed at the sleeping baby in her mother's arms, Jinx apparently forgetting her giddiness of being a grandmother immediately handed the snoozing child over to Mary.

"Oh Jesus, that's freakin lethal." She commented her arms outstretched so the baby was as far from her face as her arms allowed, she scooted off of the couch onto her feet, "Marshall, grab the diaper bag and meet me in my bedroom, Brandi, don't let anyone touch my cake! Here it goes, this is gonna be my life, baby poop and leaking boobs- Oh the joys of motherhood." She murmured under her breath as she walked away.

She set the baby down on her bed, pinching her nose as she removed the onesie. It seemed like an eternity as she stared at the baby, for Mary Shannon, running into a room full of armed drug dealers was no problem, but removing a smelly, poop covered diaper of the butt of her own baby was causing a serious moral dilemma.

"You know, it helps if you take the diaper off of the child when attempting to change it." Marshall teased setting the diaper bag down next to his partner.

"Ha-ha, very funny Doofus, now help me get this rank poop sac off of the baby so I can get back to my cake!" Mary whined, ripping the Velcro from the child's tiny waist-

"Oh my God!" Marshall covered his face with the sleeve of his shirt, "Here take the wipes!" he exclaimed, chucking the box at her. As Mary began wildly ripping wipe after wipe from the box, Stan began to laugh from the doorway,

"I have a good joke for ya, how many Marshal's does it take to change a diaper?" he asked, a smug grin spreading across his face,

"Oh I don't know, I'm thinking three!" Mary answered tossing the bow of wipes over her shoulder at Stan who caught them out of surprise.

"What do you want me to do with these?" he asked innocently, disappointment clear in his tone, of course Mary would find a way to deflect his punch line to her advantage.

"Hand me one if I tell you too genius." Mary yelled over her shoulder, her face twisted in disgust as she wiped gently, but randomly at her sons bottom.

"I think you got it all." Marshall commented after several wipes and grossed out groans later. He handed Mary the clean diaper and she fumbled with it for a few seconds before finding her way around it and getting it onto her son,

"Perfect." She said lifting him and cradling her son.

Before she turned around, Stan closed the door.

"Now you two, it's been a tough week without you around, but I want you to take off the time you need to adjust. It's kinda lonely without my dream team, but eh? A baby, a ring! I can't be happier." Stan opened his arms, but realized the look of absolute disinterest in both of their faces and began groping in his jacket pocket for something.

"Stan I got to get back in there, there's cake with my name on it, and Brandi and Jinx are gonna think something funky's goin on in here, if you know what I mean- Yuck, I just grossed myself out, I promised myself I'd never do that again!" She groaned, adjusting Xander in her arms.

"I know, you'll get back to your cake, even though I have no idea how you plan on eating after that nasty mess you just cleaned up, last week you couldn't smell coffee without gagging, no this week you're playing in poo- anyway, I got this, you know as a little somethin' for the baby, I thought you two would get a kick out of it." Stan said, his cheeks turning red with pride as he handed over the thing he had been searching for to Marshall.

"Stan, this is really cute." His inspector replied, smiling at the newborn onesy, reading 'U.S Marshal in Training'

Even Mary cracked a smile.

"I figured I'd give it to you here and I'd be on my way, seeing as Delia's prolly tearin her hair out down at the office. You two take care of that little guy; give me a call if you need something."

He waved goodbye and then left without another word,

Marshall and Mary made their way back to the living room, and the baby began to fuss,

"How did it go?" Jinx asked, sticking a video camera in her daughter's face,

"How do ya think? It looked like a scary World War two movie, except instead of blood, there was crap -and lots of it! Get that camera away from me, where did you even get that thing anyway?"

"I bought it yesterday, I'm not missing anything, every monumental moment will be recorded Mary! I expect you to carry this with you at all times!"

"Since when did first disastrous diaper change become a monumental moment in a child's life?" Mary asked sarcastically.

"Oh shush." Jinx said closing the cam corder.

The baby began to fuss, and Mary looked around frantically,

"Let me see him." Brandi said reaching for him.

"No! I just need his bottle, he's hungry!" Mary declared shoving a giant chunk of her piece of cake in her mouth.

Marshall handed Mary a bottle of pre made formula, and she quickly placed the bottle in Xander's grimacing mouth,

"There you go buddy." She cooed as he began to slurp at the bottle, now content.

She looked down at him, swallowing the last bit of cake, also content, but not because she was full, but because after eight months and one week of worrying about who was going to take her baby to raise it better than her, she realized maybe this whole mom thing wasn't so bad, after all if she could tell when he was hungry, maybe she did have that motherly instinct she had thought she'd never have. She pulled the half empty bottle from her son's mouth and placed him over her shoulder, patting him gently on the back, somewhere between sure of herself and insecure she felt something warm running down her back.

She closed her eyes,

"Marshall?"

"What?"

"I think he just puked in my hair."


	10. A Change In the Game

(Well my friends, the In Plain Sight Final Season Premiere rapidly approaches, and as much as I can't wait, I'm still upset there will only be eight episodes to conclude my favorite show Anyway, Please enjoy this chapter! Comments are always welcome! Hope y'all like what I have in store for you ;) )

Two weeks later…

Mary paid close attention to the way Marshall was with Xander, the way he held him, the way he soothed him when he fussed. Mary had even seen small changes in herself, including the fact that "poop" and "fussy" were now a part of her normal vocabulary. She settled into bed, lifting her shirt to look at the scar that still remained from the C-Section and feeling as if maybe it had been worth the weeks of pain just to be here right now, watching Marshall laying down their son for a nap, and listening to the peaceful silence that followed. He smiled at her,

"I think I'm getting used to this whole "Dad" thing." He said unbuttoning his shirt as he made his way over to the other side of the bed. "How about you 'mom'?" he joked.

"Yuck Marshall, didn't I specifically tell you never refer to me in that way? I'm still trying to think of cool nicknames for my own son to call me rather than 'mom' and you go and throw it around in conversation- as you're getting into bed no less, now you get nothing from me tonight." She rolled over onto her side, playfully away from him.

Marshall snickered; this was practically foreplay for Mary,

"That's fine." He squeaked, peeling off his jeans and sliding under the covers without another word. He waited as his all but caring tone ate away at her and smiled in triumph as she rolled over to face him again.

"Can't you let me have any fun anymore?" she asked, acting inconvenienced.

"It all depends on what kind of fun you're referring to Mare." He grinned, kissing her on her mouth, feeling her soft lips part. For the first time, without blowing a staple, she felt what it was like on top of Marshal Marshall Mann, and it was everything she dreamt it would have been.

She sighed, watching Marshall breathe in and out, his steady sounds filling the quiet space around her, soothing her until her head hit the pillow. Mary felt a sort of lightness in her chest, something she had never felt before, was she happy? Yeah. That was it. She was happy. Actual happiness filled the empty space in her heart, she had a baby, and she had Marshall. This was it, this is what she had needed all along, happiness and she had found it…. Mary Shannon closed her eyes, Marshall in her arms, and her son just feet away. Yeah, she was happy…

Mary tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't seem to. Again, and again, but still she couldn't open them.

"Mary?" A familiar voice called out from a distance.

"Mhmm." She did her best to answer, but that's all she could manage.

"Mary? Can you see me?" Mary tried to blink, nothing, and again, something… It was bright… She felt a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, and dryness in her throat. She blinked a few more times. Where in the holy hell was she?

"Marshall?" she rasped.

"No Mary, its Mark." The familiar voice corrected with a taken aback tone like a child who just got his toy taken away from him filling Mary's ears, suddenly she felt annoyed.

Her eyes opened wider, Mary found herself staring at her feet resting on a few pillows.

"Mark. GAH! What the hell are you doing here?" she asked. Looking around her heart began to pound, suddenly she felt dazed, why couldn't she piece this together? She looked to her right and found Jinx staring back at her, her eyes wide in a bewildered expression,

"Is that any way to talk to a man who has not moved from this very spot for _three_ days, _waiting _for you to come out of your coma?" She asked, no anger in her voice, but Mary was most definitely being scolded.

"I don't know what in the hell is going on, but where's Xander? Where's my- she looked down, and slowly peeled off the blankets to reveal the all too familiar swollen abdomen she hadn't missed- what the hell?"

"Mary, you're scaring me." Jinx stood up, her arms crossed.

"Where's Marshall? I need Marshall!" she cried, her eyes filling with tears she hadn't meant to let out.

"I'll go get him." Jinx said, prancing out of the room, looking back at Mary a few times on the way out.

"Mary? What's wrong, why do you need Marshall?"

"Because- Because I _do, _I just do okay!"

"Calm down! Don't be upset-

"PLEASE MARK! FIND MARSHALL!"

"Okay, okay.. I will." He got up slowly, his clothes clearly matted enough to prove he had stayed for three days.

Mary put her hands onto her face, tugging on the I.V a little. What happened? What _happened? _She thought about it, but the more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and Mary of all people did not like to be confused.

The door burst open,

"Mary?" Marshall asked, his eyes going directly to her stomach, but back up to greet her gaze.

"Marshall, I- she looked down at her left hand, her ring less, bare left hand- and Abigail appeared from behind him.

"What Mary?" Marshall urged, grabbing Abigail's hand, his forehead wrinkled with worry and a look of confusion that almost matched hers…

(_I don't know… do you like it? I'm so unsure of this chapter… Continue? Scrap it? The End? Please comment…)_


	11. Baby Steps

(_Here's the deal, I will be as CREATIVE as possible, vivid even, if you'll cut me some slack and deal with the occasional Season 5 Episode 1 Script references in this chapter- some of them are just too good to exclude, so anyway, this is my interpretation of all of the gaps in the first episode- slightly adjusted to fit into this very fanfiction! Please enjoy, comments are appreciated! Thanks for this successful piece! You're awesome readers!)_

Mary looked at Marshall, her eyes like daggers digging deep down into his pupils, looking for even the slightest bit of understanding, or knowing of what now had become her dream. How could she of all people, dream of a life with her partner? For five years she hadn't dreamt of him once, not once! But, even though those years were filled with dreams excluding Marshall Mann, she still knew there had always been something that had been drawing her to him, closer and closer. Inch by inch, sarcastic comment after nasty remark he had become the only person she could stand to be around for the majority of her time, it would only make since that he be the one she loved right? Was she drugged? Were her rationalizations irrational? Or did they just seem irrational because she had apparently just awoken from a three day coma?

"Mary, I think you should just try and stay calm, you're probably just a little lagged or something from just waking up, it's a lot to take in, Mark, Jinx, being in labor-

"WHAT? I'm in labor?" Mary asked in disbelief.

"Well yeah, but they managed to slow it down, while you were-

"So basically, what you're saying is, while I was a vegetable, they used me as a human incubator?" her eyebrows raised as her eyes glittered with rage.

"No- Mary, they slowed down the progression of your labor to prevent the baby from being born prematurely, really it was a perk you were comatose because you weren't getting yourself worked up like you are _now_!"

"Gee I'm sorry, maybe you could explain to me a list of steps I should be taking as not to panic in this situation, because I would certainly like to know okay?" she asked, her face slowly reddening.

"Okay Mare, take a deep breath, remember? That class you took?"

"It was _one _class Marshall, _one _class and I'm not having a contraction, I'm pissed! And if you don't remember that wasn't necessarily a positive experience for me, I had to straddle a coke whore for two hours! TWO HOURS! While she panted like a dog and the whole class stared as I awkwardly was forced to stroke her god damn hair! That's what I took out of the whole thing! Strategies on hair stroking, which I can't do very well when _I'm _the one in labor!" she yelled, yanking her fingers through her hair.

"Well, _maybe, _you could verse Mark in the art of hair stroking-

"Don't be smart with me!" she replied, pointing a finger at Marshall menacingly.

"No, I'm serious, because you're about to have a contraction."

"I don't feel a- HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST!"

"And she's found religion!" Marshall cried playfully, chuckling to himself, setting down a suit case in the corner of the room, "Abigail and I picked you up a few things. If there's anything I can do…" he began, getting serious, his brow furrowing.

Mark, stepped forward,

"No, I think we have everything under control, Thanks anyway man!" he answered, patting Marshall on the back with his palm, and throwing a smile toward Abigail.

As they left the room, Mary watched, nearly shaking from the pain radiating up and down her lower and upper back and through her stomach, almost crying out at the sight of Marshall leaving,

"Good luck!" he called from in the hallway.

Even though it seemed like he had felt nothing of just leaving Mary, his heart truly ached as he furthered from the room. He could hear her crying out in pain as the elevator "dinged" to announce its arrival on their floor and although he would have rather stayed to help out, fetch some ice or just pace outside the room he grabbed Abigail's hand as she led him away from the place he truly wanted to be… With his best friend.

Mary, through sweat and tears bit her lip, even three hours later. Doctors had come in and out, checking everything from cat scans to the baby's heart beat as Mary braced herself for contraction after contraction. They came faster and faster, apparently, Marshall had been right, relaxation was the key to this whole mess, but even if she could make it seem like she was relaxed on the outside, her heart would still climb at the sound of Mark's voice, the whining petulance of Jinx, who was slowly, but surely becoming more and more impatient with her, or a mere fraction of a thought about Marshall. It had seemed so real, she could swear just by closing her eyes she could feel the warmth of her son in a little bundle, all snug and safe in her arms, but she had to wipe those memories away. There was _no_ Xander. Marshall _wasn't_ there. The closure she had felt for that short time while she was under no longer comforted her when she was left alone with her thoughts during each bout of silence in between each pain. And finally, she _wasn't _happy. It figured, how could she have possibly believed she would ever be happy? Every time a contraction began, she closed her eyes, wretched and hoped that they would be over a little sooner than the last one had ended.

She turned to Jinx,

"OH MY GOD, YOU HAD TO DO THIS TWICE? NO WONDER YOU DRANK!" Mary screamed, awaiting a scolding, but none came. Apparently, being in labor was a get out of lecture free card.

"Honey just breathe through it.." Jinx soothed in her pitchy undertone as yet another doctor came in.

"Ms. Shannon, let's just see where you are here." Mary could have sworn she had been through this already. She feared the blood, the black out, and coming in and out of consciousness… Especially this time, because she knew, when and if she woke up, Marshall wouldn't be there.

"**Anyone wanna take bets? I'm thinkin 8 centimeters?**" Mary screeched, biting her bottom lip, turning her head back and forth between Jinx and Mark.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you're at ten. Who's ready to push?" The doctor looked up to make eye contact from in between Mary's legs to reveal her smile.

Mary shook the surprise off of her face,

"OOH ME!" she teased, raising her hand, the sweat rolling down her face.

"Okay, Ms. Shannon, when I say 'push' I want you to as hard as you can, got it?"

"I GOT IT! JUST GET THIS KID OUTTA ME!"

"One, two, three and PUSH!"

"AHHHHHHH FRIGGIN' A!"

The doctor grimaced,

"I'm going to need another big one, but let's wait for the height of this next contraction." She mentioned between Mary's legs.

"OH YEAH, THAT'S EASY FOR _YOU _TO SAY, GAH!"

"And PUSH! Beautiful ! You're doing great!"

"THERE IS NOTHING BEAUTIFUL ABOUT THIS!" Mary screamed.

Mark look around nervously, shut the door completely, and walked back over to the spectacle currently occurring in the hospital bed.

"I just don't want to scar anyone in the waiting room…" he replied embarrassed, rubbing the sweat from his forehead away with his palm.

"WAY TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A PREGNANT FREAK SHOW MARK!"

"Well Mary you wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for all the other ladies out there do we?"

"Mark you're not helping." Jinx, eyed him, her hand being crushed by her daughter.

"All right Ms. Shannon, the baby is crowning, this is where it really counts okay! Another big big push!"

"CAN'T YOU JUST PULL IT OUT OF ME? MEET ME HALFWAY HERRREEE"

"I think you know this is something you have to do yourself Ms. Shannon!"

"HOLY HELL!" Tears streamed down her face, the pressure, the pain, and the feeling of the baby's shoulders was excruciating plus some. She wanted Marshall, she _needed _Marshall. She let her head hit the pillow, sighing as the pain went away. Her eyes closed, awaiting another contraction, but instead there was a tiny cry.

"Congratulations Mama, You have a baby girl…" But Mary didn't get to see her, Mary didn't get to hold her, and it felt too familiar for never having _actually _experienced it. She was proud of herself, but she would have felt much more proud if Marshall had been there, if he had seen her do what she told him so many times she would never do, never _could _do, but he wasn't there, he had run away to be with Abigail, which quite possibly could have been where he belonged.


	12. Reality Part I

(My computer was overrun with viruses of all sorts, so I was forced to resort to hand-writing all of my fan fiction… Thank goodness for my sister being engaged to a tech savvy guy! Please enjoy, comments are always appreciated! I had some struggles with Jinx this chapter, tips on how to do it better are welcomed in the comments page ;D )

"This is humiliating…"

"Why? I went through it, a million women have gone through it, and maybe someday even Brandi will go through it! Don't be so embarrassed, c'mon, come to me Mary!" Jinx urged. Perhaps it was her tone, whimsically dancing around each word, but mostly it was because of the fact that Jinx had her arms outstretched with a goofy ass grin on her ridiculously happy face, practically screaming at Mary 'I have the upper hand now, and there is literally nothing you can do about it'. Even when her mother wasn't acting cynically condescending, every word that exited her seemingly devious lips always inflected the sharp taunting that was hidden deep within. Whether it was coming out of a coma because of God knows what or giving birth to her daughter a few hours after the fact, Mary couldn't put her finger on why; all of a sudden she was seeing Jinx as more than just a middle aged woman hiding years of alcohol abuse in her tired glassy eyes. She was more like an actual person, a real woman, with a 'hell hath no fury' mindset no less, who _wasn't _simply just coaxing her daughter from the hospital bed in which she had been staying, but rather purposely pissing her off , knowing that her daughter moved most stealthily when she was angry. Although Mary didn't want to admit it most of the time, Jinx was her mother and probably knew more about Mary than she gave her credit for.

"C'mon Mary, come to mama!"

With that, she absolutely couldn't stand it anymore- if it had been Jinx's motive to annoy her out of bed she had been successful and if getting her to stop talking baby talk at her meant feeling like an oversized toddler taking her first steps to her overly bubbly mother, Mary would most definitely do it. Mary hated baby talk.

"ALL RIGHT I'LL DO IT! Christ Almighty, if it will get you to shut your yapper I will sprint a God damn marathon with this packing between my legs!" Mary huffed, ripping the blankets from her bottom half, scooting to the edge of the bed, holding in the urge to cry out in pain. Screw drugs _during _child birth- Mary had practically forgotten what that had felt like already, but this whole walking thing after they had packed her up like something being overnighted by FEDEX- wasn't pleasant.

"Oh my God it's like they stuffed gauze into my uterus- it must look like a horror movie down there." She assumed, she hadn't really had any time to herself to, you know, check to see if all of her parts were accounted for. The doctor only mentioned heavy bleeding; Mary hoped she hadn't strategically forgotten to mention everything was stretched out like silly putty down there, yet again Mary's overactive imagination got the best of her.

"Mary the quicker you stop complaining, the quicker you prove to these ladies you can walk and the quicker-

"WE GET TO SEE THE BABY! I gotchya, just back off for a sec kay?" She exhaled, lifting herself up and pressing her feet to the cold tile of the hospital room floor. She looked up at the two nurses, eying her like two hungry vultures about to attack the same road kill; she hadn't been amusing them today, complaining about hospital food, calling one a "bedpan technician" and now refusing to let them fuss over the first time mommy in whatever "05", they couldn't look anymore unfriendly, usually Mary would find these death stares a fulfilling product of her harassments, but beside herself, they were the ones standing in her way of the NICU. It was the moment that had her re-thinking ever calling the gravy in her lunch "adhesive to keep her hot turkey sandwich together".

"Yikes." Mary closed her eyes once she had completely lifted herself to her feet, opening one she looked toward the ground.

"I have heard no 'splat' so I'm _assuming _that my reproductive organs have remained in my abdominal cavity…"

"Don't worry; the first step is always the toughest!" Her mother squealed in excitement. As Mary used all of her determination to push her right foot forward, her eyes stung with tears, not in pain, granted she did feel the least bit masochistic as her right foot triumphantly hit the floor in front of her, but in fear. In fear of the tiny person she may see in the nursery. She was afraid to look her own daughter in her tiny innocent eyes and know that if she hadn't been so irresponsible thirty-two weeks ago; maybe that little girl wouldn't have to be laying in an incubator, hooked up to so many machines. It was so surreal, when the doctor informed Mary, she just couldn't imagine, not only that there had really been a baby inside of her, but it was out and not ready to be out to top it all off. What a way to begin the life Mary had been so reluctant to give her. Mary barely realized her left foot habitually following to catch up with her right and found herself staring at her knees, cringing, but still upright, just not completely vertical. Her body ached, screaming for her to sit down.

"Holy hell it feels like I'm being probed with a serving ladle!" she yelled.

"Oh honey, you're doing great, just a few more steps!"

Reluctantly, she forced herself to continue toward her overenthusiastic mother.

"Keep in mind; I'm not doing this for you! I'm doing this to see my kid!" Mary pointed an intimidating finger in Jinx's direction and spun around on one heel to advance directly back to the bed, finding relief from the pain in her gut, ranging from dull to sharp, back to achy and then coming full circle to just plain uncomfortable, radiating from her knee caps to her chest. The nurses had disappeared, but reappeared shortly, baring aspirin and a wheel chair.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Mary fretted, slipping the drugs under her toungue, reaching for her water, "I get myself outta this bed and _exert-_not to mention _embarrass, _the hell outta myself walking across this room, just so you can stroll in thirty measly seconds with a wheelchair? I mean, was it so much to hope for that you would let me feel like I've accomplished something for an entire minute? Was that so much to ask!"

"It's protocol ! Anyway, wheelchairs aren't allowed in the NICU and that's precisely where we are going!" she replied coldly, clearly fed up with Mary's commentary.

"Oh, well I'll bring the liquor you condescending- Just before Mary could spit back the venom she had been swallowing difficultly these past fifteen minutes Jinx stepped in.

"Here! You ladies can lead us and I will follow with Mary!" She grabbed the chair from the unsuspecting nurse, and rolled it over to her daughter, her face now completely matching her normal rosy accent of her blush. With fire in her eyes, she looked straight into her daughter's pupils,

"Get your ass in this chair! We are going to see my granddaughter- AND NOT A WORD FROM YOU MARY! NOT A WORD!" she scolded as Mary began to open her mouth.

After that Mary was so stunned, she couldn't speak, which as anyone who had spent two seconds with her would have known to be, extremely unlikely, to say the very least. As they approached the NICU, Mary's heart began to race and the empty feeling in her stomach roared with emptiness. The hollow feeling in her tummy this past day had been her only reminder that there was in fact a tiny baby Shannon in her life now.

She inched over to the automatic doors, forgetting her aching bottom half and began to fumble with the get up the NICU permitted to be worn around the babies. Jinx practically pushed her daughter through the automatic doors, giving her the frustrating push Mary had needed to follow through with meeting _her _daughter. The gleeful squeals of Jinx filled the room as they approached the squirming _pink _bundle. Her little arms and legs were curled up, making her seem much smaller than her already tiny four pounds, two ounces. Mary's eyes widened in surprise at her little girl's information card taped to the corner of the incubator, she had seemed so much heavier, Mary blushed looking down at her middle for the first time, maybe those French fries drowned in Hershey's syrup hadn't been a smart choice, now that she looked back at it all.

"It's hard to believe…" Jinx stared at the tiny child, her voice had exponentially softened, nearly to an inaudible whisper.

"What?" Mary asked oblivious to her mother's transfixed gaze on the infant.

"That she's, she's yours." She stated so matter of fact, Mary almost fell over.

"You're mine, yeah that's right kid, you're mine." Mary grinned, repeating after Jinx.

The tiny baby took a moment to examine Mary, who had shamelessly let her tears fall again. What wonder this was, she had a baby. The moments where she had actually been considering relocation flooded back to her, suddenly making her feel guilty, but she had her heart set on making it up to that little girl. If anyone could raise this baby, she could, she wasn't Jinx, she was no con artist, she was U.S Marshal Mary Shannon- Mom to- she cocked her head to one side and grabbed a pen from the basin of a nearby sink. She crossed out the neat print, "Baby Shannon" to replace it with her messy script. Now she was, U.S Marshal Mary Shannon, Mom to Baby Norah Shannon.


	13. Reality Part II

(Thank you to all of my readers I really take to heart all of your comments, I'll be honest, today was very discouraging for me, because I got my first negative comment But I love this story so much and really want to continue with it! Please Enjoy! MARSHALL IS BACK!)

"Mary?" Marshall yelled over the shrill cries of Norah.

"Marshall? Oh thank Christ! I can't do this, every time she stops, she starts again! I'm going _insane_!" she cried to him, matching her daughter's wails.

"Okay, calm down Mare. It's fine, let me have her." He demanded, his arms outstretching to take Norah.

"I'm surprised the neighbors haven't called the police on me. It's two in the morn- Oh Marshall, I'm sorry, I didn't-

"It's quite alright, I don't mind!" He reassured.

"But _Abigail?_" Marshall couldn't help but cringe at the sound of his girlfriend's name passing his partner's lips. For some reason, the mentioning by one about the other always sent his heart into his throat. He half shook his head,

"Granted, she wasn't pleased with the sound of my cell phone buzzing against the nightstand, but she rolled over and continued on in her slumber." Marshall held Norah in his arms, soothing the cranky child with a hum coming from deep in his throat, admiring how much she looked like her mother.

"I'll go get her bottle in the- what's that? You know, the cold box thingy in the kitchen…" Mary ruffled her blonde hair,

"The refrigerator?" Marshall chuckled.

"Yeah that!" She sighed, both eyes barely open as she dragged her feet across, but stopped.

"Hey Mare, I don't mean to kick while your down, but you don't look so good, maybe you wanna get some sleep?"

"Gee! I didn't think about that doofus! Thanks for enlightening me, maybe I should try that!"

"Calm down- you know I wasn't trying to insult your intelligence, I simply was stating my opinion.

"Marshall, I _swear _as soon as my head hits the pillow, she'll just start up with her wailing again, she may be adorable now, but don't let her fool you- she's a monster, she's a poop covered, malfunctioning alarm clock!"

"Mommy's a little grumpy, now isn't she- that's called sleep deprivation, yeah." Marshall cooed at the infant. As he glanced back up, he could have sworn he saw a smile on his partner's face. He smirked, liking the idea that there was something about this spectacle that pleased her.

"You know what?"

"What doofus?" Mary asked grumpily, finally reaching in the refrigerator for the pre-made bottle. This past week had been awful, starting when the nurse at the hospital taught her to use a breast pump, and then finding out, Norah wouldn't suckle a god damn bottle, but much preferred the full experience, which made it necessary for Mary to be there at all times. She hoped it was something that her daughter would just grow out of, but of course, it took time for someone to grow out of something and Mary was most impatient. She figured she could keep a few bottles stowed away, for moments like these, when her daughter seemed more content in someone else's arms. She could hope, couldn't she? Mary had probably gotten a whopping three hours of sleep these past three days and she thought she would be able to deal with it. After all, she had pulled all-nighters dozens of times, but she found, maybe pulling a perpetual all-nighter for the first three months of her daughter's life may be a little excessive. Her state of mind had gone from overly confident to downright run down. At first she misplaced Norah's binky a few times, always managing to find it. Then, she started to do this "fun" thing when she didn't fully velcro Norah's diaper to her tiny bottom, which resulted in her fair share of times being peed on. Although these were all mentally discouraging situations, they didn't compare to the multiple times just today she couldn't think of a word, simple words, words she used every day. She needed sleep, there was no question about it, and Mark was nowhere to be found in the wee hours of the night, when the urge to crawl into the covers of her bed gnawed at her the most. In total desperation she picked up her phone. The idea of calling Jinx passed through her jumbled brain, but her fingers seemed to glide directly passed her mother's number on the speed dial and straight to Marshall's. As she pressed number one on her blackberry she nearly prayed she hadn't actually hit "send". But now, as Marshall stood in front of her, and he was very much there, it was the best feeling she had ever felt.

"Mare, take a break. I slept for a few hours; it's your turn, go get some rest." Marshall took the bottle from his overly exhausted partner, holding it in his free hand.

"Marshall you don't have-

"But I want to." He grinned; enjoying the rare feeling of dominance in their relationship, even though it took severe sleep deprivation to knock Mary down, Marshall was willing to take full advantage of it. "Besides, it will give me an opportunity to explore the whole fatherly role, perhaps convince me babies will have a place in my future plans."

"Yeah yeah, just don't let me catch you breastfeeding her…" Mary trailed off, trying to get off the subject of Marshall and Abigail's obviously expanding relationship. Unfortunately for her partner, she most definitely couldn't see Nancy Drew giving up her pretty little Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader figure to host a mini Marshall-pedia for nine months.

Marshall observed her as she trudged down the hallway, her head looking heavy on her drooping shoulders. He was left to tend to the tiny bundle in his arms as her bedroom door closed behind her. Norah's features showed very little of Mark, he assumed she could probably pass as a tinier clone of Mary at on month old, but it's not like he would ever see old snapshots of Mary at this age, so it would have to remain a mystery. He kissed the child tenderly on her forehead, avoiding her soft spot. Norah's eyes fluttered shut and finally her eye lids rested in place as she drifted off to sleep. Around her tiny eyes were dark circles, as if she were just as run down as her mother. Marshall chuckled, wondering what other vocabulary Mary would need assistance with when she woke up. He proceeded to lay Norah on a couch cushion, surrounding her with throw pillows. He twiddled his thumbs, awaiting any small noise from the child as to escape his boredom. Finally, he found himself whispering philosophical preaching's in Norah's direction, knowing right well she was asleep, but enjoying himself anyway. His eyes widened as his cell began to buzz against his thigh. Who could it possibly be this early in the morning? He flipped open his phone, feeling slightly agitated as he caught sight of Norah's sudden restlessness over the very slight irregular noise.

"Hello?" he whispered into the phone.

"_Why are you whispering? Marshall, where the hell are you?" _Abigail's shrill morning voice quaked from the earpiece of his phone, her southern accent intensifying the angry inflection in her tone,

"I'm just assisting Mary with a few baby duties, she's got a belly ache or something, but I'm no pediatrician so I can't be too sure." Marshall grunted, lifting himself from the couch to grab Norah's bottle off of the end table, hoping if he could fill the space between the open air and the baby's mouth the wails wouldn't become any louder.

"_Oh."_

"You looked so peaceful; I didn't want to wake you up for something as simple and routine as heading over to my best friends place." He tried his best not to sound insensitive, but it being so early in the morning, no matter how gentle he made his voice, anything sounded hostile.

"_You know I don't mind it when you go to Mary's Marshall, but there is absolutely nothing __**routine**__ about getting up out of bed in the middle of the night and driving out of your way to keep her company!"_

"Listen, what was I supposed to do let the phone call go unanswered and just leave Mary hanging, what kind of friend would that make me, she needed help Abigail and-

" _She's your partner-yeah I've heard that excuse before…"_ she mumbled. Marshall sighed half in frustration and half out of guilt; she hadn't brought _that_ up again… He couldn't apologize any more than he already had, of all people he felt_ she_ would be the one who understood. It was only logical that he have _Mary's_ back, her achy,_ pregnant_ back. Abigail was as well trained as he had been, he knew she was more than capable of ducking for appropriate cover, and to be fair, Mary was closest to the witness at the time, the flying glass and a speeding bullet could have easily missed the target more than it had, Abigail was in nowhere near the danger that Mary was. Wouldn't it have been instinct of any other law enforcement agent who had worked with the _same_ person so long? To cover _that_ person when they were in more of a vulnerable state that they had _ever_ been in? He hadn't seen the fault in his actions, just Abigail's unnecessary jealousy. He took a deep breath, shaking away the urge to argue about the tired topic,

"I think it's the middle of the night, we are both cranky and the last thing I want to do is fight with you." Marshall began to struggle keeping the phone to his ear as he battled with the opposing infant to make her suckle. The harder he tried, the more she fussed, "Shhh." He tried to soothe, knowing Mary with her ridiculously keen hearing wouldn't be asleep for very long if Norah had the chance to scream any louder. In auditory skills, Mary did not lack, it was just a matter of keeping her listening to whatever you had to say, but if there was ever anything you _didn't_ want her to hear, she was all ears.

"_Did you just 'shush' me?"_ his girlfriend questioned, a serious crescendo of intensity radiating from her dialogue. She clearly ignored Marshall's feeble attempt to prevent the potential argument.

"No, not you! The baby, she won't take the bottle- Mary probably knows that…"

"_Then why isn't Mary tending to __**her**__ child?"_ she asked.

Throughout the entirety of their relationship, Marshall had never heard Abigail respond to him with so much resentment, he did his best to write off her failure to empathize once more taking into account the time again.

"Mary is asleep for the first time in God knows how long; I'm just trying to keep it that way!" Marshall offered, hoping she would understand.

"_So I guess there's no use in asking you nicely to come home, so I think I'll just go back to sleep!" _Marshall held the phone to his ear even after the line had gone dead; slightly annoyed he had just been hung up on. Sure, he had been hung up on numerous times, but by crazy ex-girlfriends, an adamant Stan, but mostly by Mary. Whether she was throwing one of her usual temper tantrums or up to antics Marshall preferred not to be apart she always made a point to hit the "end" button when he wasn't saying anything she thought to be of any value to her. He appreciated it in a sense, after all, if she purposely hung up knowing Marshall wouldn't particularly like what she was doing, that spared him from the frustration of talking her out of it, which mean she cared right?

He let the phone fall to the cushion beside him to continue his struggle with the less than merciful infant.

"C'mon Norah, just take the bottle for Uncle Marshall, you'll receive the same nourishment just without the bonding time with mama… Please? I know it's great to spend time with her and all, I enjoy it myself, but you really have to give her a break…" He begged relentlessly at the cranky child, his ears twitched nervously as Norah's wails heightened to an octave Marshall hadn't known a child with formerly premature lungs to be able to reach.

He turned to meet the sound of his partner's footsteps in the hallway.

"Thanks for that cat nap doofus, it was a long shot she'd even take that thing anyway. She likes it straight from the source, and unfortunately I happen to be the only source."

"Let me just attempt one-

"No! Don't make me argue, because then I'll get angry and when I get all flustery my hormones go on an uncontrollable rampage and my boobs will do this thing where they go all leaky faucet on me!" Mary eyed him with a look that showed the last thing she was about to do was back down. He couldn't win. She had some spunk in her from her short power nap, enough to make it at least _seem_ like she was the old Mary again. Marshall hadn't realized he had hesitated, unknowingly and mistakenly he had kept his partner waiting.

"C'MON!" she growled, making an impatient gesture for him to hand her her daughter.

"Umm Mare?"

"WHAT?"

"You seemed to have prematurely induced lactation…" Marshall blushed, looking away to prevent Mary from becoming embarrassed.

"God damn it! Why? Now I have to do laundry- when am I going to laundry? Give me my kid!" she hissed grabbing her daughter from her partner's arms, quickly softening as the baby girl was safely snuggled into her chest. Although still crying, Norah quieted down noticeably, clearly knowing sustenance was on its way.

"Want me to leave?"

"What doof? Scared to see a little boobage?" Mary snorted, "relax I'll go." She answered, leaving the room, giving him no time to say _he_ was leaving, the last thing she wanted him to do was go and leave her feeling alone again. She rolled her eyes at herself, realizing how silly that was, she was nowhere near alone; her daughter was endless company.

Marshall huffed, bored, but glad he wouldn't have to sit awkwardly next to his partner, swaying away and struggling not to look at Mary's exposed teat. It made him blush a deeper shade of red just thinking about it. It was strange to him, breast feeding was so natural, he didn't take a second glance at any matron who shamelessly whipped out their breast to nourish their offspring in public, but for some reason Mary was different. First of all, he knew, even in the sanctity of her own home she could never _shamelessly_ 'let her daughter eat her nipples' as she had referred to it on the few occasions it had been brought up in conversation. Marshall smiled, felling one of those bouts of random jubilance after remembering this was all real.

Mary, _his _Mary, was a mother… and like he had promise her a couple of months prior, he would be there in every way he could- even if it did kill him that all he would ever be was 'Uncle Marshall'.


	14. Uncle Daddy

_(Quick update, I did my best with the Marshall- Norah moments, I hope you like what I've written, thank you for the comments! They are always appreciated. XD Still lovin this fanfiction, so I hope my readers do too! 3 )_

"Uncle Marshall's here!" Marshall yelled from the doorway, kicking it shut with his foot.

"We're in here!" Mary called from the bedroom, "Someone had a pretty ripe diaper- you should have been here sooner, you could have spared me an unnecessary parental experience!"

"I've come baring pastries if that makes it up to you!"

"Oh, well then all's forgiven doofus!" If only she had truly been kidding, but Marshall grinned anyway, knowing the easiest way to Mary's heart was something warm and flaky that someone else had pulled from an oven- he strategically brought doughnuts whenever possible.

Mary emerged from the hallway, Norah in her arms, staring up at her mother, awaiting the comforting hum coming from Mary's chest when she spoke.

"Glazed." He smiled, elevating the box of confectionaries just above his chin.

"Sweeet, I swear you could throw glaze on cardboard and it would make it delicious, I'm partial to glazed ham though, nothing beats a nice glazed ham…"

"Why don't I put that down for Sunday dinner? We can invite Stan, Abigail could join us, maybe Brandi via skype-

"No Brandi, maybe Jinx, but that's a _big_ maybe…" Anyone could tell Mary was still a little bitter, she hadn't seen her car in over a month, Peter came around every now and then with his puppy dog eyes just to see how everything was going and managed to give Mary a pretty fair deal on a new mini-van that she still was trying to convince everyone she was only test driving, but Brandi hadn't even shown any interest in Norah. Yeah, she did get one text message, a smiley face with some squealing noises after Jinx had stolen Mary's cell to send a picture of her granddaughter to everyone in the contacts, but seriously?

Marshall chuckled,

"Here, let me see the baby, you can hop in the shower and we can do some grocery shopping…"

"What makes you think I need a shower?" Mary joked, pushing a few strands of greasy hair from her eyes, but then immediately preceding to wipe away the oily goo that had built up onto her hand on the leg of her sweat pants, "Okay, I see what you mean. Okay, Bug, go see doofus, Momma's got some serious stink to spray off…"

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't call me 'doofus' in front on her…" Marshall half whined at his partner, cradling the baby,

"Calm down _doofus, _she's only a month old, if by some prodigious miracle she starts talking at week four of her life, then by all means_ be_ pissed off at me!"

"It's just- Before Marshall could finish, Mary had already slammed the door to the bathroom, making it clear she didn't need the guilt.

"Okay Mini- Mare, what shall we do while Momma's scrubbing the stench of maternal hardship off of her? Hmm? Any ideas?"

He looked down,

"I almost forgot- he grabbed the bag he had left near the doorway, "I gotchya something- yeah that's right, Uncle Marshall went baby shopping!" He cooed, raising his eyebrows as Norah gurgled slightly, probably enjoying derision in a masculine tone.

"It should fit…" He continued, peeling off a little jacket, and her stretch pants replacing the outfit with another- a t-shirt, "If you think I'm cute, You should see my Mommy." And a pair of osh kosh jeans… "Perfect Norah, but let's just put this sweatshirt on ya, so we can make sure Mommy doesn't see what Uncle Marshall's got ya in kay?" He grinned holding the child again, now it seemed like they shared a secret. Already, they were mutually hiding their joint antics from Mary...

As Mary took her sweet time, Marshall listened to the water cascading to Mary's feet, he closed his eyes, feeling that familiar feeling that this is where he was supposed to be. He looked down at the small child in his arms, tightening his grip so he could feel a little closer while she stared curiously up at her Uncle Marshall. Suddenly he felt compelled to tell her what was on his mind, making a point to keep his voice soft so the conversation could stay between the two of them.

"You know Nor, two months ago I wasn't sure I would be able to handle this… Your mommy has been my best friend for so long now and when I found out about you- of course I _told_ Mary I'd be here… Of course I convinced myself I _had_ to be here. And it wasn't even that I didn't want to be- Now, listen closely Mini-Mare because I'm not sure I'll ever get to confide in another soul what I'm about to say to you- He paused for a moment, "It didn't hurt because you were on the way, it didn't hurt when she told me how insecure she was about motherhood because I knew the truth, that she would be great mother, and it didn't hurt when she told me about possibly giving you up; I knew she wouldn't be able to do it. Of course there was still a constant nagging fear as she submerged herself deeper and deeper into the adoption process, but that's beside the point, you're here now, in my arms where you belong. It hurt me that you weren't mine. I still don't think your mother understands that. I don't hate your dad for the kind of person he is, I hate him because he stays as far away as he can from this, like a coward, while I _ache _to be your daddy." His voice decreased to an even softer whisper,

"I haven't found anything that makes me happier than being around you and your Momma, but every time I walk through that door over there, I find myself getting lost in the adventurous whirlwind that is life with your mother. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself waiting for my phone to ring in the middle of the night just so I can enter this epic paradox that is everything I've ever wanted… Even so, your Auntie Abigail, whom you'll hopefully get to meet this weekend, always pulls me away again. She's my reality… This is my dream…" Norah still eyed Marshall with that curious expression that had sent him pouring his heart out to her, suddenly his cheeks felt hot, realizing how lost he had just gotten in his own mind and how confused he had just made himself. He shook off whatever emotions he felt, unsure of whether or not he should let what he had just admitted slide or come back to it later. Maybe he would have to back off with the heart to hearts with Norah, unlike this one, most conversations they had never made it past expressing his utter awe at how well Mary had adjusted to sharing her home with a tiny human being.

"Okay doofus, I'm ready." Mary emerged from the hallway, her hair still damp from her speedy work with the blow dryer, and her button up shirt revealing a tiny bit too much cleavage from her hustling as not to stick Marshall with Norah for too long. In case her boobs were needed, Mary tried to keep herself on hand during Marshall- baby bonding time.

"Alrighty, you take Norah, I'll go hook her car seat up in my car, sorry Mare, I should have done that while you were getting ready." He replied at her potential annoyance at his somewhat careless actions.

"Yeah you better be." She joked as Marshall headed out the door.

Norah squirmed a little, but settled into Mary's arms, she had only been in the car two or three times, counting bringing her home. There had been no family trips to the store as of yet, so Mary was skeptical when Marshall uttered the words "grocery store" at first, but how could she learn unless she trailed through uncharted territory? She knew there would be times in the future when she'd need to trek out to buy diapers while Marshall wasn't around, although that hadn't happened yet..

Marshall appeared in the doorway again, reaching in a closet for Norah's practically brand new diaper bag.

"Let's head out!" He ordered playfully, treating it like one of their missions. There hadn't really been any action as of late with their witnesses, no new ones coming in, and no old ones coming out. He hadn't actually had the full work experience without Mary, and he hoped he wouldn't have to. He just prayed work remained slow and his gun could remain in its holster.

"Shut up Marshall, you're making me miss my glock. God Bug, Daddy can be so cruel sometimes…" She glanced down playfully in her daughter's direction. Mary didn't realize what she had said until Marshall stopped dead, halfway out of the door. Slowly he turned around to face his partner; he was pretty sure his heart was now pumping up in his throat cavity, watching his stomach do flips from a better view.

" Marshall I-

"It's- it's fine." He croaked, "Ham still good for Sunday?"

_(What do you think? )_


	15. A Step in the Right Wrong Direction

(Dun, dun, dun! We all knew it was gonna happen friends, I just hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing it! Two updates in one day ;) Please comment and enjoy!)

Marshall tried to shake off the events of today. Mary's slip of her tongue sent his day into a downward spiral, the car ride was absolutely awkward and Norah couldn't be silenced with her binky so naturally he ended up leaning against the driver's side door of his automobile, giving Mary the privacy to nurse in his back seat. When they finally headed into the store, a countless number of elderly women stopped them to take a look at Norah; Mary almost had an aneurism and managed to scare away the rest of the old ladies wanting a peek at her daughter. At check out, the cashier mistook Marshall as the father, and commented on how much the baby looked like him, which didn't help his already fragile mood. He knew for a fact there wouldn't be any late night calls from his partner tonight, because they had barely been able to handle standing next to each other for their short outing. Not to mention, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look her in the face, he was afraid to. He could do nothing to stop himself from spewing the innards of his subconscious to an infant that merely looked like Mary , how was he supposed to look into the actual eyes of his partner and not regurgitate the words he had confided to her tiny daughter, the words he promised himself he would lock away?

Marshall closed the door to his home, looking up to catch the questioning gaze of Abigail.

"Where have you been?" She asked. As if she didn't know.

"Oh, umm, I had to get Mary out of the house, I don't think she's been in direct sunlight for a week…" he tried to smile, but his mind had him in an emotional hold, one he couldn't wrestle out of.

"Uh-huh…" she turned around, grabbing for a glass of wine, "Well, why don't you just relax.."

"Yeah…" he answered, partially unsure of what she had actually said, taking the glass from his girlfriend's hand.

"What's on your mind there cowboy?"

"Nothing, just work, Hey? Wanna come with me to Mary's Sunday, we're gonna have ham. You could meet Norah…"

"I thought we were having date night Sunday?" her brow furrowed as Marshall searched in his brain for when he had promised that.

"I'm sorry, I forgot…" He stated, not sorry, in fact kind of disappointed, but maybe that's what he needed, a jolt back to reality and maybe alone time with Abigail could do exactly that.

He looked back up, as if trying to coax her into continuing the conversation because he had no ambition to, but he found himself only look into her angry eyes.

"So aren't you going to reschedule?" she asked.

"Yeah I'll do that…"

"Marshall…" Abigail sighed, clearly about to lead him into an area of their relationship he couldn't handle at the moment.

"What?" His voice rose in pitch accidentally, and he knew there would be an argument.

"Does Mary _always _come first? Seriously Marshall! I have waited all week for date night and you go and make plans with her to have some dinner you didn't bother telling me about til now?"

"I wasn't being disrespectful Abby, we didn't plan it! I brought some doughnuts; we got to talking about ham-

"Don't change the subject Marshall Mann!"

"Believe it or not, I wasn't!" he replied defensively.

"Every night this week you have untangled me from your arms to go help her with that kid and-

"Her name is Norah! And she's a beautiful little girl, you know Mary she-

"I know Mary has done nothing but be rude to me since the day I met her, I know Mary can't stand when I have you to myself! She doesn't need help, she just wants to pull you back from having a meaningful relationship! Don't you see? You can't move on and leave her behind!"

"That's not true, and Mary, Mary doesn't like anyone!" That came out a little stronger than he had wanted and would have probably received a swift kick to his shin if Mary had heard him say that.

"She seems to get along fine with you, or at least you don't mind the horrible way she treats you and other people!"

"Abigail she's been through so much-

"_I've _been through so much! But you haven't taken the time to see that have you? All of this time you could have been getting to know me, you've spent ninety percent of with Mary! You work with her, at least before Norah came along you came home to me! Now I'm lucky if you do that!"

"It's just temporary…"

"I can't stand it, who's to say it's just temporary, I distinctly remember you telling me when you came home the very_ first_ night Mary called you that it was a one-time deal and she would get herself all settled into motherhood in no time! It's been three weeks and I can't do this anymore!"

"You haven't had to do anything! I have asked nothing of you! You don't ever have to join me, I let you sleep, I come home every evening and I spend it with you, not Mary!"

"That's not the point Marshall, I want to know if I wake up in the middle of the night, you'll be there and if you're not there I want it to be because of work, not because you had to stop everything and go to Mary's rescue!"

"I get you're point! I just can't believe it! You're basically telling me to choose! That's incredibly insensitive and irrational and quite frankly I'm surprised you would be the kind of person to make me choose between my girlfriend and my best friend!" Marshall sucked in huge amounts of air, wondering if this day could get any worse.

"It's not that I _want_ you to choose! You _need_ to choose! It was only a matter of time, and I want it to be now. Before I fall anymore in love with you, I don't want to be strung along while you fall for Mary even harder than you've already fallen. I'm done being your back up. If you truly want me, prove it."

"So, you're telling me, to stop hanging around Mary?"

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm asking, would you?"

He took no time in between the question and his answer, even if he had wanted to think it through, there was no way his mouth would have let him. His words were already beign formed and his brain wasn't in on it.

"No." Marshall stated so adamantly he could have sworn Abigail was about to fall over.

"No?" she parroted in disbelief, as if she suspected him to come to some revelation regarding how much he had neglected her, after she had just made it absolutely clear she had no desire to seek his best friend's approval that he so much wanted her to have.

He searched through his brain, doing his best to find any reason not to answer the way his heart wanted him to answer, but he could find absolutely no reason to not go with his gut. Well, there was_ one_ big reason. He knew that this decision was the difference between a steady relationship and an unorthodox one. He knew with one he got the perfect life, one any man would kill for and the other he got a mess, a beautiful mess, the mess he always wanted to be a part of. He knew with one he got a predictable fairytale, with the other he would get to experience a rollercoaster ride and a thousand adventures with a few sarcastic comments mixed in to make things interesting. Finally he had no reason to stick around when the goings got tough with Abigail, yes he loved her, but it was the kind of love you'd feel for a friend you had known forever. With Mary, he would always have Norah. Mary already had a soft spot for all things her daughter enjoyed and Marshall's company was one thing that he knew she enjoyed. Even before the mini- Mare came along, Marshall's heart was already swollen with an undeniable, unidentifiable love for his partner.

Abigail's eyes dug like daggers into his and she echoed his response back to him once more,

"No?"

"No… If I'm choosing, it will always be Mary." He felt compelled to thank her, to tell her to her face how long he had waited for someone to convince him to do what he had wanted to do for so long. He grabbed his jacket, and walked out of the home he shared with Abigail. As the cold air whipped at his face, it was the first time in a long time he had felt like he had made a decision that was going to make _him_ happy. Maybe it was a crazy one, reckless in a sense, but he hopped into his car anyway, turning out of his driveway in the direction of his partner's home.

(_I have a feeling a bunch of you were waiting for that ;) Not all, but a bunch!)_


	16. A Knock at the Door

_(I'm on Spring break, but technically it's midnight so this is tomorrow not today, so really this isn't actually my third update in one evening! Anyway, please enjoy, comment, I really tried, so please, happy reading!)_

Mary found herself pacing back and forth in her living room, staring at Norah to her phone and back again. Not that there was anything wrong, or the baby was hard to handle tonight, because it was the exact opposite, she had been an absolute angel since Marshall had dropped then off a couple of hours ago. She ran her fingers through her hair, glancing at the leftover groceries she had neglected to put away on her countertop. She minus well have shot herself in the foot, the mess she had gotten herself into. Calling Marshall Norah's daddy? What the hell had she been thinking? Norah had a Daddy, maybe not a hop to it kinda guy like her partner, but he existed nonetheless. Mary never meant for this whole Marshall business to spiral so out of control like it had, it was supposed to be a onetime thing, he would come over, rescue her from her screaming baby and everything would be copasetic, that was it. It was her fault though, she admitted that the third and fourth night she found herself hitting Marshall's number on speed dial was out of her own selfish yearning for his presence; his talent for quieting down her daughter was just bonus.

What could she do? He had gone home, home to perfect little Nancy Drew and their story book place where they shared their nineteen fifties sitcom lifestyle on steroids. She couldn't compete with that. It used to be so simple, she saw Marshall every day for the majority of her day and then she would go home, perfectly content with being forever alone and then boom! Norah, and feelings. She didn't need feelings, she used to be pro at locking those away, but now they were just always there, tearing at her from the inside, practically ripping through her hard shell. Yeah, there were hundreds of times before today where her heart got a hold of her and wouldn't back down, but never like what occurred this afternoon. She had nearly screamed 'Marshall just stay, you don't have to leave, just stay!', but she used what little self- control she had running on a few hours of sleep to stop herself from doing exactly that. Mary plopped down on her couch, sighing in sadness, frustration, ignorance, and whatever other feelings made you feel absolutely run down enough to want to lie in a corner and weep.

"Norah, I don't know about you, but I need a drink." She leaned over her daughter's portable carrier just to have her eyes on her.

"I think Uncle Marshall and I- well, we need to either get the hell outta each other's lives or -God- I don't even know…" She huffed, "Bug, don't ever fall in love with a cop, not only do they have really great poker faces, but there just something about a man with a gun…" she trailed off.

Norah gurgled happily, an unintentional smile coming to her face.

"Yeah that's right Bug, I love your Uncle Marshall- but just wait til you meet your Auntie Abigail Sunday; she's a god damn keeper. Ah hell! Why did Marshall have to find himself a freakin keeper!" she slammed her fist into the cushion next to her, letting out a groan with five years of hurt and want rolled up into it, a groan that seemed to pierce the ear drums more sharply than her usual groans of annoyance.

"How did I do this, huh? I wish you could tell me…" She leaned in closer, "But you can't, because you don't _speak _and you're a_ baby_…" Mary stated, somewhat surprised at herself.

"I need something to take my mind of this, of course the one time you don't need something is when I decide to go all psycho.. When there's no poop filled diaper or goopy spit up to keep my mind off of things…" She held her head in her hands, sucking in her potential sobs.

"I need Marshall Bug!" she complained as Norah looked positively mesmerized by her own hand.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

Mary turned her head to the clock; nine p.m. was a little late for people to be dropping by. Great, Jinx was either stumbling drunk or behind on some kind of bill, just what she needed her mother's problems to load onto her plate. Just another good reason to have a nervous breakdown, because she needed anymore…. She made her way to the door hesitantly,

"Ya know girl scouts aren't supposed to be roaming around the streets of Albuquerque this late at night so if you're selling cookies-

"Cut it out Mare!" the familiar voice yelled from the other side of the door.

She hesitated only a short moment before unlocking the door,

"Marshall?" she questioned at the man standing in her doorway, "I mean you look like the dork that left here a few hours ago, but isn't he supposed to be home with his girlfriend?"

"What girlfriend?" he asked innocently, letting Mary fill in the gaps.

"Aw, Marsh, I'm sorry, what happened?"

"You did." He stated as a matter of fact, making it clear he was unashamed of the reason and willing to defend it to the death. He pushed past his partner into the house, giving Mary no time to argue,

"Well why don't you come in doofus?" Mary replied sarcastically at Marshall's unusual behavior, closing the door and locking it again.

"I can't be around her, Abigail I mean, not Norah." He offered, picking up the baby.

"Why not? You two seemed like you were getting along well, I mean you took that 'gigantic' step adopting Oscar, I mean you two- woah!"

"Like I have stated on countless occasions, I know your sarcasm is just another way to show your affection…" He answered, unaffected by her remark.

"Alright, fine, I'll bite. What happened?"

"Abigail accused me of something absurd, and then I thought, oh wait, maybe that's not so absurd after all. You see Mare, this little girl right here had me over here constantly, because she was quote giving you trouble, end quote, but then I thought. I know you better than that. You don't just come running for help when the going gets tough you fight through it! So there must have been some teensy tiny, itty bitty, microscopic part of you, U.S Marshal Mary Shannon that not only _needed _but _wanted _me around. Am I warm?"

"Did you get hit on the head, what happened, did Nancy Drew scramble your brains?" Mary challenged, caught off guard about how ridiculously correct his theory had been.

Marshall placed Norah back in her portable carrier, strapping her in again. He crossed the room to her,

"I want you to cut the crap, I don't want sarcasm, I don't want lies; do you copy?"

"Marshall I-

"AND I don't want any 'Marshall I's', do you understand? I need complete honesty Mary, I need you to suck it up and not run away from me with your tail between your legs, because I know that's exactly what your mind is telling you to do!" he jabbed at her with something he could back up without question, a defense she couldn't even deny, "I left an amazing woman tonight Mary Shannon! But Abigail can't compare to you, because she's not you, there is no one like you…"

"Marshall, I don't know what to say…" and she didn't, there she was speechless, like she had been too many times this month.

"Let me put it this way- I l-

"Love you?" Mary finished, her eyes darting around the entire surface area of his face, looking for any sign of regret or humor.

"Yes- I love you." With that, Mary just shook her head.

"I had a baby with a man I divorced when I was a teenager, I've done you wrong so many times, but yet you still wanted to be my best friend and I was grateful. When I found myself wanting more with you, I just thought it was because I knew it would never happen, that I could never have you and that's why I gave myself permission to feel, because I only set myself up for heart break. Marshall I don't want to hurt you, the way I've hurt myself…"

"Mary, I love the baby you had with another man, with all of my heart, there is no one in this world I would rather be a best friend to than you, even with someone like Abigail you were never off of my mind, and lastly, you won't hurt me, because I won't let you."

Mary let her tears fall freely down her cheeks,

"Please don't let this be a dream…" she breathed over her quivering lip up toward the ceiling, ignoring Marshall's confused expression.

"Come here Mare." Marshall wrapped his lanky arms around his partner, taking a deep breath,

"I love you."

"I love you too." Mary whispered, so Marshall just barely heard it.

"I have one more question." He stated.

"Yeah and what's that? Don't you dare pull out a ring!" she warned.

"Hey this may have been spur of the moment Mare, but don't go too crazy on me here, at least give me a chance to move out of the place I shared with my ex before we talk wedding bells…" he joked.

"Then what Doofus?" she asked pulling away, slightly agitated, somewhat embarrassed.

"How much is room and board?" he teased.

"Free, especially if you like lumpy sofas and screaming infants waking you up at all hours of the night." Mary answered, suddenly exhausted. Now it was time for her to close her eyes, but this time she hoped when she woke up, Norah and Marshall would be there to greet her.


	17. Pancakes and Confessions

(Next chapter Feeling inspired. Mary McCormack responded to a tweet of mine, I had sent her a sketch of her as Mary Shannon… She asked me to follow her sister and recruit my friends to do so too, so if you're a twitter user, follow marycmccormack and Bridgetformich Just putting that out there, I love you all for reading! I really love writing Marshall and Mary, please enjoy! Comments are always appreciated!)

Mary opened her eyes, voluntarily for the first time in what seemed like had been forever. The smell of pancakes filled her nostrils, sending her up on her feet. She looked to her right, expecting to find her daughter, but the crib was bare, even of her blankets. Mary found herself sprinting down her hallway, hoping she wouldn't find herself in the Twilight Zone again. She wanted Marshall to be there, she wanted Norah in his arms- she wanted the pancakes whose smell was radiating through her entire house to be on a plate waiting for her to soak them with syrup.

"Why hello there sleepy head, eleven o'clock? You've practically slept the whole day away!" Marshall teased, cradling Norah in his lanky arms, like he had become so familiar doing, letting her slurp at a bottle.

"Doofus!" Mary boomed in disbelief.

"What?" He asked, suddenly fearing he had done something to upset her.

"How did you get her to take the bottle? What did you do? I've tried and tried- Bug? Was it bribery? Did you bribe my daughter?" Mary eyed him suspiciously, her eyes dancing with playfulness.

"It took quite a bit of coaxing, but after a car ride with Uncle Marshall, a few go around's with that pesky bottle there she may never want it straight from the source again the way she's been sucking that down. Here can you take her? I have to go flip our griddle cakes!"

"Sure, griddle cakes? C'mon, you and I both know they are pan cakes-

"But when they are being made on a _griddle_, they are _griddle _cakes, and I am in fact using your _griddle_." He smirked, looking up from his flipping.

Mary looked down at Norah, instead of taking a straight shot at him, she decided to add her daughter into the conversation,

"Oh Bug, what did I get us into? I'm so sorry, you can blame me when you start repeating his Shakespearean rants verbatim." She gently pulled the bottle from her mouth, examining how much she had downed and began to pat gently on her tiny back, kissing her chubby cheeks.

"How many of these do you want Mare?" he asked chewing a piece of griddle cake.

"I don't know Marsh- let's see where breakfast takes us, shall we?"

"Ya know, she prefers it when you position her on her belly in your lap, plus if she spits up it's on your foot, not down your back…"

"Thanks for the tip doofus, but I think I know how to handle burping my kid.." she replied defensively, but Marshall watched her sit to carefully place Norah on her belly.

After Breakfast, Mary scrubbed at a few dishes while Marshall laid Norah down for an afternoon nap. Completely full she began to recollect some memories of right before Norah's birth, pre-coma. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to piece together what had been real and what had been her dream, yeah it had been bugging her since she had woken up, but she hadn't had the guts to tell anyone what she had truly experienced when she was under.

"Hey Marshall?" she called, rinsing the last dish and placing it to dry on the counter.

"What?" he asked, sitting down on the couch, tucking in the front of his shirt that had slipped from its place.

Before Mary could stop herself, she wasn't asking the question she had thought was on her mind, but the one that had truly been eating away at her,

"Why weren't you there when I woke up?" she blurted.

"Today, in your bedroom?" he asked dumbly.

"No. At the hospital…"

"Oh. I, uhhh….Your mother, she scolded me- when I was lying down with y-you she-

"Go on?" She urged, her heart fluttering in whimsy, so she hadn't imagined the warmth of his body against hers that day.

"She yelled at me, and that's when- Marshall began to stumble over his words the way Mary had never see him do, even with a sucking chest wound he had never been this tongue tied.

"When what?"

"You kinda- I don't know how to explain it, you choked a little, some adverse effect from the drugs you had taken to slow the progression of your labor, and you o-opened your eyes and you looked straight at me-you didn't talk, but th- then you closed your eyes again, and you d-didn't wake up. I didn't know what to do-Mark, he came back around and took my place… I know I promised you I wouldn't leave you, but I couldn't look at you Mare…" he bowed his head, clearly apologetic,

"Hey- she inched closer, "Marshall, look at me; I'm fine…You're here now, that's all that matters…" Mary ran her fingers through Marshall's thick brown locks, appreciating his presence even more now that she made direct contact with him.

"It's not okay. I promised you, I wasn't there, this is like the time you got shot all over again!"

"Oh, jeeeeez, don't be beating yourself up about_ that_ still! You know, the next time I go into a coma, after knocking down a bullet or being in labor or whatever, because quite frankly no one can say they have come out of a coma twice, just be there Marshall, please?"

"Well, I'm kinda hoping you don't plan on going into another coma.."

"Fine, then make it up to me by being here when I wake up in the _morning_, I don't want you spending the rest of your life feeling guilty about what you've done, I want you to spend the rest of your life happy, with me, with Norah. Be here for the rest of the great stuff in my life, in ours lives and I promise you I'll never dwell on the past…"

"Do you really mean that Mare?"

"I have to… Marshall, I had a dream, while I was under, and you were in it…" Mary trailed off, wondering if it had been a mistake to bring it up.

"What kind of dream was it?" he chuckled, his mind wandering to inappropriate places on his partners body.

"A really _real_ dream.." her eyebrows rose and fell with those four words, remembering how happy she had been, and now realizing how happy she was now.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"I can't- Marshall, I'll just say- it was like almost everything you've already given me…"

Norah's cries pierced the silence between them,

"Wanna go together?"

"What the hell? Okay Daddy Marshall show me how it's done." She joked, lifting herself from the couch,

"Daddy Marshall eh?" he snickered.

"Let that be a lesson to you."

"For what?"

"Calling my daughter Mini-Mare."


	18. A Late Night Chat

(A little more of Mary and Marshall! :D Please read and enjoy- just tell me if it's getting old, I'll speed things up a little! Enjoy! Comments are always appreciated!)

"Marshall?" Mary whispered in the stillness of the night, her head resting against her pillow awaiting his response.

"Yeah Mare? Is everything all right?" he asked, matching her volume, reaching for her hand underneath the blanket.

"I'm ready to tell you more- about my dream, I mean…" she stuttered.

"Okay, I'm all ears…" he shifted to his side, the bed groaning underneath him.

"We were t-together… Like we are now and-

"We had a baby?" Even in the darkness she could see his goofy grin.

"Not necessarily, I- he was-

"He?"

"Yeah _he_, but he-

"Was still Marks…" Marshall finished, somehow reading her mind, like he had gotten so good at doing after all of these years of partnership.

"Yeah, and I think I loved that little boy Marshall, I can't even tell you how real he was, I _held_ him in my arms and when I woke up, I wanted_ him_ to be there as much as I wanted you to be… I love Norah so much, and I don't regret-

"I know you love Norah Mary, you don't have to prove it to me, I know." He whispered into her ear, "I know." He repeated kissing her neck.

"Oh jeez Doofus- talk about changing the subject…"

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Oh God no." she answered, letting him continue, "But if you want to get lucky Marshall Mann you need to find a way to set up shop for our daughter in the guest room…" she gently shoved him off of her, chuckling as he huffed in a painful sigh of defeat,

"I'll pick up a portable crib tomorrow morning." He said grumpily, turning onto his opposite side.

"What a good doofus you are." She turned over ruffling his brown hair.

"Before we uh- go to sleep Mare, you are aware you referred to Norah as 'our daughter' right?"

"I did? Well I-

"Don't say you're sorry, that means you didn't mean it, tell me you meant it."

"Mark-

"HASN"T BEEN AROUND!"

"Jeez, calm down Marshall, whether you like it or not, he's Norah's dad! And if she gets to see him _sometimes_, that's more than I can ask for!"

"She deserves more than sometimes…"

"That's why she has you…"

"I don't wanna be just Daddy Marshall, I don't _feel _like just Daddy Marshall…" he sighed.

"You don't have to be- whatever Norah decides- if she calls you Daddy, I'm perfectly fine with that, but if by some phenomena she's in Mark's arms when she utters that word, I will have no right to be upset by it… Please see where I'm coming from Marshall, please?" She begged, feeling tears stinging at the corners of her eyes just ready to fall if they managed to get into an argument at the end of their first full day together.

"That's fair." He said, making no attempt at continuing, but feeling a severe contempt for the deal. He would argue, but not right here, not right now, not when everything was so… great.

Mary exhaled, feeling the tears that had been threatening to grace the surface to trickle down her face go back to where she preferred to keep them, bottled up to save for an inconvenient time.

Marshall could easily make this go his way, he had been there nearly from the beginning, it would be some miracle if Norah picked the lesser of the cuddly men to call "dad", although Mark was definitely hairier. Mary shook the thought from her head.

"Do you want to have a baby with me?" Mary asked, bluntly, catching him off guard.

"I- What?"

"Oh, I think you heard me." She replied, as if just another snide remark came from her mouth.

"I- wow… Mary, I-

"I'll take that as a no then…" she uncovered herself, took a peek at Norah, leaving no time for Marshall to articulate his words into an actual sentence and left the room, closing the door behind her. As if playing follow the leader, he proceeded to do the same thing, taking a slightly longer look at Norah, and following Mary's exact footsteps out of the room, just in time to catch the last nostril full of her gorgeous scent, before he opened and closed the door of their bedroom again, leaving only a slight crack so that the baby wasn't completely out of their reach.

He entered the living room to find Mary, her head in her hands, her blonde hair covering her face.

"Oh, Mare, I didn't mean it like that. I-

"It's okay Marshall, it's my fault… Seriously, one day together and I drop the baby bomb on you, really forget about it."

"No, now I won't be able to… What made you bring that up? I mean, your dream, but wow, can you just give me a few seconds to process before you jump to your own conclusions!"

He jumped from one thing to another.

"I'm sorry! I really don't know why I just asked that, Gah! What is wrong with me lately? I have Norah, I don't need another- it's just that not even a few days ago you were telling me how Norah really had you thinking about fatherhood and what it would be like and-

"Of course we can have another baby."

"Huh?" Mary looked up, an eyebrow raised, surprised.

"We can have another baby, I mean, I want a baby with you, but can we just take this one day at a time?" He grabbed her hand, "Can we at least wait until Norah can hold her head up on her own? I mean Mare, you and Norah, you're my family, and I would be absolutely _crazy _to pass up the chance to father one of your babies, that's a once in a life time chance. I think you _know _I wouldn't pass that opportunity up..." He kissed her on the neck, forcing a giggle to escape her lips.

"Hold it right there- Mary stopped, her ears perking up, "Of course Norah has to take after me, _excellent _timing Bug!" she yelled in the direction of the bedroom.

"What? What are you talking about?" Marshall asked. She leaned over, clicking on a contraption on the end table, shortly after a green light appeared on the digital screen, a tiny cry was exponentially more audible.

"How did you?-

"There are a whole bunch of perks to being a new mom, if my boobs were slightly bigger, I could be Superwoman."

"You are Superwoman." Marshall smiled.

"Very funny doofus. No off, that's a hungry cry, you don't ignore the hungry cry or she gets vicious…"


	19. It Started with Ham

(Here ya go, probably the last one for a while! Back to school, please enjoy! Love this chapter, it's all I've ever wanted for our favorite pair in paragraph form! Love the comments! Please enjoy! Happy reading!)

"We should probably get dressed." Marshall suggested, pecking Mary on the lips, caressing the bare back of his partner's body, following the beads of water running down her back with his fingers, practically making her melt underneath his fingertips.

"Why? There's plenty of hot water left, even when it turns cold we can keep each other warm." Mary smirked, enjoying his hands in the places they had never been.

"Stan is coming over, remember? Ham?"

"This is way better than ham." She insisted, grasping at his muscles, really taking in all that Marshal Marshall Mann had to offer.

"I agree, I'll take you over a glazed side of pork anytime, but we did say four and it's three already…" he responded over the overwhelming sensations occurring within him, glancing at his waterproof Timex over Mary's shoulder.

"Then take me, c'mon Marshall!"

"Mary, please don't tempt me." He whined, groping for a towel,

"I'm not tempting, that's an order!" She gripped his wrist, pulling it back into the shower, "I knew this big tub would come in handy."

Mary and Marshall lay on the bed together, intertwined in each other's arms.

"At least my clothes had time to dry in the dryer while we were in there." He said, running his fingers through Mary's sopping wet hair.

"At least Norah decided to take a longer nap than usual." She added, listening to the thumping in his chest, his heart had slowed down considerably from the shower, making her smile.

"All right! I really need to check that ham in the oven!"

"Screw the ham, we can order pizza for Sunday dinner for all I care if you just lay here with me for a fraction of a second longer…"

"Well- he kissed her on the lips- next weekend, we can lock all of the doors, shut all of the shades, maybe send Norah to Mark's for a few hours, Stan could probably babysit- he kissed her again- and we can turn on the shower again or we can just stay here, hide under these covers, except maybe with a little less clothing and a little more flesh; but right now, I have to go get the huge hunk of meat from the oven before the house burns down…" he hopped up, straightening his clothes.

"Fine." Mary responded rolling out of the bed, "I should change Norah's diaper, put on a different outfit- Oh-! Which reminds me, are you the culprit responsible for buying her that onesy?"

"What onesy?" he asked innocently, knowing the exact article of clothing she had in mind.

"Come off it doofus, I know it was you. Come here Bug!" she cooed, lifting her daughter from the crib, opening a drawer to search for an appropriate outfit.

"Actually, I think you should put that on her, oh with those little jeans I got her."

He started heading out of the door,

"Marshall I will not-

He poked his head back into the room,

"If you don't, I'll buy her one of those in a different color for the rest of the time she can wear one!"

"And what if I can't find it?" she questioned, a mischievous smile appearing on her face.

"You put it in the bottom drawer under all of the clothes she's outgrown." With that he started down the hallway again.

"Ugh! I hate it when you know me!"

"Marshall you cooked this?" Stan asked his mouth full of ham.

"Uh yeah Stan! I took a few home ec classes in high school-

"Oh please don't continue." Mary halted him with her hand.

"Wow, Mary, Marshall told me Norah was cute, but I didn't think, she's just too preciousss!" Stan touched his finger gently to Norah's nose, making a 'boop' noise just before he pulled away. Not quite age appropriate, Mary thought, but she would let it slide.

"What else would you expect? I gave her half of my DNA, brewed her for nearly nine months, of course she's beautiful!" Mary's eyes glittered with joy.

Stan turned his head to Marshall,

"I thought you said Abigail would be joining us?"

"Ummm…"

The room went absolutely silent, Mary sighed, her eyebrows rising simultaneously. She figured Marshall would have informed Stan of their rapid change of relationship status, this was probably the only time Mary had wished she had a facebook.

"What did I miss?" Stan asked, wiping his mouth with his napkin, replacing it on his lap before sipping at a glass of wine.

"Abigail and I, we-

"They broke up, Marshall's living here, he's been wearing the same clothes for going on three days now, playing daddy to my daughter and now has the _honor_ of sharing a bed with me.." Mary rushed through the sentence, fast enough so she would have time to catch Stan's reaction.

The confused marshal looked like he had been a victim of whip lash, looking back and forth between his two inspectors as they gazed innocently back.

"Really?"

"Yep! What can I say Stan I've finally found my key master, after all of these years as the gatekeeper no less!" Marshall could since Mary was laying it on a little thick to express her annoyance that he hadn't already told their boss, but still they both looked back at Stan, curiously awaiting his reaction.

"Well it's about time!" he chuckled, standing up from his seat to walk around the table to hold them in a loose hug, "I always knew you two had your eyes on each other!"

"Okay! Now that Stan knows, I minus well just do this right here right now!"

"Forgive me Mare, but I just can't wait. I know you too well and if I had made a big deal outta this, you would have, A- gotten angry with me, or B- have known something was up." He grinned, reaching in his pocket, "Norah came along with me to pick this up from my safety deposit box a few nights ago after you had drifted off into a very heavy slumber. With his nimble fingers he reached in his pocket, to pull out a box. "It was my grandmother's, so you're gonna hate it- Mary Shannon, I know it's been one of the happiest few days of my life and I know I wanna keep having these kind of days, I've never been happier sharing my time with anyone else. And I know I told you we should take it slow, but what's the worst you can do? Tell me no? What I wanna say is Marry me." She stared at him, speechless, noteven able to enjoy how nervous he was she was so nervous herself.

"Doofus, didn't we? Weren't you?" Mary couldn't change her expression, everything she said sounded utterly ridiculous.

"I did, but I've changed my mind. Do you want to marry me, or not?" it was as if he was becoming impatient, on his knees on her dining room floor.

"Yea-uh-I, -her lip began to quiver- look away Stan!" she ordered, feeling a little ashamed as she wiped away the tears.

"No way, I'm not missing this for the world!" he laughed, stepping even further back than he had already.

"You will?" he coaxed, wondering if he had heard her barely audible, slightly nonsensical reply.

"Like you said, if I say 'no' you'll just keep asking me right?" she smiled, hanging on even tighter to her daughter,

"Right." His eyes sparkled with happiness as he grinned upward at his partner, he never thought he, Marshall Mann would ever propose to Mary Shannon, and he never thought it would be in her dining room, while she held her baby that he never imagined she would have. And Mary never thought she would ever say 'yes' is she had ever been proposed to again, but she didn't know the person who would be doing the proposing would be, in fact, Marshall Mann.

Maybe it was true, life could be just like a dream.


	20. Frustration and Realization

(I tried. I really did not to write anymore, and I understand it may be getting old, but let me spice it back up! Please Enjoy my friends I enjoy reading your comments, they are always appreciated! Happy Reading!)

Five months later…

Mary scooped the last of the bananas out of the glass jar into the mouth of her giggling little girl,

"All done Bug!" she smiled looking at the clock on the wall, "C'mon Marrrrk.." Mary muttered frustrated under her breath, throwing the baby's spoon into the sink while simultaneously wiping the chunks of fruit from Norah's face. She pulled her cellphone out with every intention of giving her ex an earful of her discontent, or at least leaving a nasty voicemail, whatever option was open to her, in the shortest amount of time. Just before she jammed in the 'send' button on her blackberry, the front door opened, followed by a red faced Mark, who quickly apologized, knowing that it wouldn't stop Mary from commenting on his tardiness.

"Mark! There you are! I must be a fool to think that because you babysit your daughter so seldom that you would actually be on time. And I don't want to hear any excuses, I don't care if you were closing a deal, or helping an old woman cross the street! You _have _to be here on time, unlike a salesman's work, _my_ job is time sensitive! Not to mention, Marshall had to leave an hour ago to get to work on time so now, thanks to you we have to take two separate cars in, which means we'll be using _twice_ the gas and in _this _economy-

"I have to leave for California next month." He interrupted, unhooking Norah from her high chair to keep her from becoming impatient, which was a trait she most likely received from her mother.

"What?"

"I have a few more things to do in Albuquerque and then I have to-

"No Mark- You don't _have_ to, you _want_ to! I can't even believe you, yet alone myself for thinking maybe, just _maybe_ I had a skewed impression of you, but just like I assumed, you _are_ the selfish child I thought you to be. Great job Mark! What a model father you're turning out to be!"

Mary threw her cellphone into her bag and then flung it over her shoulder.

"Mary, don't get all worked up, it will only be temporary. Six months tops."

"But that is six_ months_, 24 weeks! You know how fast a baby grows, not to mention she will have absolutely no chance of recognizing you! Jesus, what am I gonna do about work?"

She argued, pressing her cold hand against her warm forehead. Jinx had left months ago to rescue Brandi from drowning in a sea of vodka and now Mark…

"What do you plan on doing? Flying back every weekend?" Mary knew her attempts at rationalizing were useless especially when she was so worked up. She gulped in huge amounts of air, trying to make the knot in her stomach disappear that had formed during the course of the fight, but without avail it sat in her stomach adamantly, "Oh God I think I'm gonna be sick." She mumbled, covering her mouth with her other hand. "Norah's bottles are in the- she gulped again- in the fridge, nap at- at one, p-peaches are in the cabinet…" She kissed Norah quickly on the forehead, wanting to be near Mark as little as possible and then replaced her hand over her mouth again. In long strides she left her house, upset, exhausted, nauseous and eager to get to work. Mary hated to be late after not even one month back and today especially, because she had two new witnesses to brief on the 'merry' life of WITSEC.

Even though it was a slightly chilly day with the sun hiding behind the clouds, Mary had all of the windows rolled down, her hair whipped in the wind, the air whirling through the driver's side window and out the backseat of the passenger's side, leaving her face clammy, but no longer burning to her touch. Still, her stomach did flips at each light when she had to stop, but slightly settled as she took off again and the air began to circulate once more. The familiar feeling of the smooth pavement underneath her feet in the parking lot settled her stomach somewhat, unfortunately the knot still remained.

Mary was relieved to hear the elevator "ding" and the WITSEC floor light up so she could get off of the elevator. Most days since she had returned she felt compelled to curl up in the corner and let the gentle up and down motion of the lift lull her to sleep, but today it was just making her downright ill, what she yearned for at the moment was her office chair and Marshall's face, not a heaping pile of paper work and the undeniable drama that came along when instating people into the program. Unlike usual, she just wasn't in the mood. The idea of telling someone they had to leave everything and everyone behind because they had gotten a crappy hand in the crap shoot of the deal that was life had never been appealing and today it was doubly less so.

She groped for her I.D card in her bag, wanting nothing more than to be inside rather from the outside looking in, like she had been on maternity leave. The door buzzed, unlatching letting her pull it open with ease. She took a peek into the conference room to see two extremely nervous looking people, both twiddling their thumbs side by side, seated next to each other on the left side of the long table.

"They're a mess Mare, are you sure you don't want me to take this one?"

Mary cocked her head to one side, no longer trying to be inconspicuous, but rather wondering what those two extremely normal, innocent looking human beings were doing witnessing a crack head being capped by an angry mobster in a back alley. A young man, looking no older than twenty sat beside a significantly older woman, both looking like deer caught in headlights. She was certainly looking forward to that explanation. Then again, maybe she was reading too much into it, it was possible to be in that wrong of a place at the wrong time without it being sketchy, she had seen it dozens of times before.

"Mare?" Marshall repeated.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what?" she asked, biting her bottom lip, fighting off the feeling of nausea and the unsettling idea of searching for a babysitter for her daughter.

"I asked, if you wanted me to take this case… they've had a pretty rough time and you being a tiny bit rust-

"Don't tell me I'm rusty!" Mary snapped. " I can't deal with any criticism today Marshall, it's been, it's been- I can't even explain to you…" She gave up, dropping her head onto his shoulder in defeat, feeling the warmth radiating from her partner, wanting nothing more than to cry. This was absolute lunacy; she never felt half of the compellations she had felt just today in a whole week, yet alone an entire month. What the hell was going on?

"Okay, I'm sorry, you're just a little out of practice, that's all, I didn't mean to make you upset." He soothed, stroking her hair, feeling Delia's eyes burning into the back of his head, sure her jaw had unhinged from the unfamiliar spectacle occurring in the middle of the office.

Mary breathed out,

"Mark is leaving for California in four weeks, for six months..."

"Okay." Marshall stated, his face expressing that he was waiting for the actual bad news.

"That's it!" she stated credulously, "What are we going to do about Norah?"

"I'm sure we will be able to find _someone _to watch the baby, if not we are financially capable of _hiring _the best child care provider in Albuquerque, are you sure that's all that's bothering you? I can't comprehend why you would be so upset if it's only temporary, he'll be back. He's not leaving for good."

Mary found herself slightly agitated that Marshall was practically taking Mark's side.

"Seriously? This is a big deal! He was our life line, now we don't even have a life line!" she complained, throwing her bag down next to her desk, pulling away from Marshall to take a seat.

"Mary, it'll be fine. I promise! I think-

"No offense, but doofus, I know I'm about to get a spiel about my 'daddy issues' so if you don't mind- Spare me." She cut off, searching through her desk drawer for an antacid or pepto bismol, but only managing to find mints. She stuffed them into her pocket, "Excuse me fellow inspectors, but I have to get these poor saps to sign some paperwork to throw their lives away, so if you wouldn't mind?" she pointed toward the door, her jaw set tightly, staring back and forth between Marshall, who was obstructing her path and Delia, who had been innocently filing a paper in a cabinet conveniently within earshot of their quarrel.

"Be my guest." Marshall replied with a tiny grin, trying to make her understand even though she had meant for her words to sting him, they hadn't even affected him in the least bit, but his smile was weak and he sighed as Mary entered the conference room without a second glance back at him.

Mary dropped the file on the table, fully prepared to read off the long document, consisting of all of the rules that needed abiding in Witness protection and answering the butt load of questions afterward.

"U.S Marshall Mary Shannon, I'm the insp- she lost her breath, but regained it shortly after she had cut off, taking another loud gulp and clearing her throat- Ahem! Sorry, I'm the inspector assigned to your case, I'm the one you'll call if you're having any WITSEC related problems, or- excuse me one sec." She pulled the mints out of her pocket, her fingers fumbling with the wrapper as she shakily unwrapped a mint.

"You don't look so hot inspector." The young man retorted as she obliterated a lifesaver between her teeth.

"Gee thanks." Mary snorted, taking her first swallow of the minty saliva in her mouth, but quickly regretting it as the urge to gag overpowered her.

"Inspector?" the boy questioned, as she got to her feet painfully slow.

"Exc- excuse m- Mary flung herself at the garbage can closest to the door, facing away from her two startled confused and disgusted witnesses. Before Mary could reach up to let herself out while heaving into the trash bin Marshall pushed the door open. He grabbed her arm,

"Excuse us!" he called over, as he assisted his fiancé out the door, wrinkling his nose at the unpleasant smell of vomit. "Mare are you alright?" he asked, gently shoving her into her chair, reaching for the bottle of water from his desk. Somewhat frantically he unscrewed the cap, offering it to her.

"Oh man…" her voice echoed from the waste paper can, "I feel like, woah- a little dizzy." She said, wiping her mouth with a tissue Delia had so kindly tossed to her from a distance.

"Are you sick?" Marshall asked, somehow feeling responsible.

"I felt fine; it just hit me all of a sudden."

Delia chuckled from her corner,

"What's so funny? I hope you're laughing at a humorous chain email because if that cackle is at my expense I'll wipe that pretty smile of your face!" She wiped her eyes, hoping they would cease watering.

"I was just thinkin- she snickered a little more- What if you were pregnant again?" She burst out laughing harder, "Can you imagine, two baby's in one year! And_ you, _Mary of all people!" she was nearly doubled over in laughter.

Before Mary could give her an acceptable look of scorn her eyes widened, she began to count back God knows what on her fingers, over and over again. Marshall eyed her suspiciously, wondering what she could have possibly been up to. As he opened his mouth, his partner stopped her strange gestures, clutching at the bucket again, her face now filled with terror she heaved even harder, this time sobs causing the tears in her eyes, "God Damn it." She whispered.


	21. Babies and Witnesses

(Here's the next chapter, a little bit of WITSEC mixed in just to prove I didn't forget she had a job ;) I'm sorry if it's boring, but next chapter will hopefully have you giggling or cussing, whatever my fanfiction does to you haha! Please comment, but most of all enjoy! Thank you to all of my recurring and new readers!)

"Mary why don't you figure out what's goin on, I can take these two, you should really-

"No! I am taking this case, this is _my _case, Stan gave it to me, I'm taking it!" She slammed the trash bin to the floor, wiping her mouth again.

"I don't-

"Marshall, it's fine, I just got myself a little too worked up over the Mark situation, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of my own witnesses, are you really going to debate me on this?" she replied defensively, her face twisting into an expression of disbelief.

"Mare, I know you are completely capable, I am not dissing your ability as a WITSEC inspector, I'm worried about your health, there has to be a reason for- for _this_!"

"We can talk about it later; I have to get back to my witnesses!"

Meanwhile Delia sat in her office chair, watching the whole thing unravel,

"Mary? You don't think I'm right? Do you?" she asked, her giggles ceasing.

"Mind your own business Delia! I can't be pregnant, that's an absolutely ridiculous notion and both of you know it! Now quit overthinking this! The fact is I spewed, it's done, it won't happen again! History! End of story! Now go back to your computers Mr. And Mrs. Know-it-all!"

"Whatever." She smiled, her eyes glancing back at the computer screen.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone, but here's the deal, as soon as you are done with them, you're going home, no discussion Mary!"

"Don't treat me like a baby, I know my limits just because I just so happen to be wearing _your _ring now will _not_ change the way I do my job."

"Alright, I'll back off, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah, get me some tums." She shot back, entering the conference room again.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Mary asked, "I'm Inspector Shannon, I am in charge of your case, if you need anything or have any WITSEC related questions, please don't hesitate to call me- or my partner, our phone numbers have been programmed into your cellphones already. In witness protection there are a few main rules, first, you are in no way allowed to contact anyone from your old life, friends, family, none of them. By entering the program you agree to keep a low profile, no pictures in the newspaper or publicity of your life of any variety. Lastly, you have to completely erase your past; you cannot work in any specialized profession that can connect you to a former life- Mary rattled off the plethora of other witsec rules- "Now, would you like to take a look at the Witsec Memorandum of Understanding? Or do you think you have the basics down?"

"Sure, where do we sign?" she asked, speaking for both of them and as it seemed that;s how it always worked.

"Here, here and here." Mary pointed to the spaces for them to sign,

"If you'll follow- she gulped- me." Mary hopped up, quickly regretting it. "We'll get you all settled into your new place-

"Will there be cable?"

"Yes, but it's basic, no Showtime, HBO or Cinemax."

"So no _fun_ channels?" he asked with such a ridiculously serious expression on his face you could have mistaken him for a daytime soap actor.

Mary turned around to take a better look at the boy beginning to get on her nerves.

"Let me get this straight. You're more worried about what you'll have to watch on television than about the guidelines of the rest of your life, or- or the safety of your mother?" she pointed to the woman standing beside him.

"Woah, that's nasty Inspector! She ain't my old lady!" he shot back, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her closer as if to prove it.

"We're together! I thought you knew that!" The witness squeaked.

Mary did her best to hide the look of disgust in her expression, raising her eyebrows in sudden curiosity.

"I apologize, I wasn't-

"Don't worry about it! I see the disapproving look in your eyes, it's the same one in every one else's. Maybe it's inappropriate to have the relationship I have with one of my former student's but-

"Wait, hold on a sec! You brought your former student into witness protection with you? You took him away from his parents!"

"I'm eighteen inspector, an adult, who are you to judge?"

"I'm not judging- you know what? I'm not even getting into this! Follow me." Leading them from the room, Mary stopped in front of Marshall's desk, rubbing her right eye with her index finger, looking down at her feet; she waited until she felt his eyes on her,

"Yes?"

"You're gonna have to drive." She mumbled as she attempted to make the room quit spinning.

"Gotchya, would you like me to bring the trash-

"FORGET ABOUT THE PUKING!" she yelled, flinging her bag over her shoulder again, stomping toward the doors. "Come with me!" she gestured to her witnesses as she pushed open the doors to the witsec office. "Get on the elevator." She ordered, suddenly feeling in need of a gigantic cup of coffee, but the need quickly went away when she realized that would probably only make her feel worse.

"Ummm." The woman hesitated, her hand to her own stomach,

"What?" Mary asked angrily, turning around once again to face the two people she had already began to scorn,

"Elevators make me sick, would you mind?" the lady questioned,

"Oh God damn…" Mary whispered under her breath, "MARSHALL!" she called, holding the elevator doors open with her foot.

"Coming,_ I'm_ coming. What do you need?" he asked curiously. It was never, 'what do you want', it was always 'what do you need', he never questioned her with the underlying tone that only made her feel like she was using him, it never seemed like he thought he was just doing her a favor, but as if she was always in need of something, when in fact it was something so simple like,

"Can you escort these two down the stairs? I'm so tired, I can barely keep my eyes-

"No problem- he turned to face her witnesses, "Now if you two will follow me, I'll bring you to your rental, I'll explain what you'll be doing and program the G.P.S to your new address." He smiled, gently placing his hand on their shoulders to lead them in the direction of the stair well, while Mary stepped fully into the elevator.

She sighed in relief as the doors closed and she was alone. Tears ran down her cheeks, not sure why they were falling in the first place she wiped them away, sniffing a little to stop her nose from running.

"This can't be happening." She stuttered in disbelief, taking in a few more mouthfuls of air. She wiped at the last few stray tears on her face and the doors opened again, tapping her foot she awaited Marshall and her witnesses at the bottom of the stairs.

Mary followed them out to their car, but yet again left Marshall to instruct them, while she disappeared to the other side of the parking lot, feeling bouts after bouts of nausea brewing in her stomach. She left the passenger side door of Marshall's S.U.V wide open, letting the cool air wash over her as she reclined slightly in the seat. She closed her eyes for only a few moments, but woke up belted in, gliding smoothly across the highway, the pair she was supposed to be protecting riding their tail.

"I knew you needed the rest, so I didn't bother waking you." He smirked.

"Thank you." She responded meekly.

Marshall's expression hardened, now apparently worried, he took one hand from the wheel to place on Mary's leg, still an unusual gesture between the two of them,

"Are you _sure_ you're okay? Listen Mare, don't believe Delia, we've been careful, there is no way you're pregnant." He said reassuringly, the statement seeming more directed to himself than to her.

"That's the thing Marshall, I think I am!" Her eyes glistened, the corners of her mouth turning upward to reveal an annoyed grin, a contradiction in and of itself, because it reinforced how serious she was. It was one of those expressions that could only be made serious if it was on Mary's face.

His hand moved back to the wheel,

"Really?" he asked his eyebrows rising.

"Think about it doofus, I'm late, I'm nauseous, I'm dizzy-

"Not to mention your breasts are engorged and your feet are swollen…"

Mary looked at him, her mouth half open,

"What, I'm a guy we notice those things…" he replied innocently.

"What are we going to do?" she asked he voice raising in pitch.

Marshall took a deep breath in, fooling her into believing he was calm,

"We are going to get your witnesses settled, go back to the office, file any paper work we can and then we can head over to a drug store, annddd pick you up a pregnancy test."

"God, I never thought I'd have to pee on two sticks in one year!" she whined her head hitting the back of the head rest.

Marshall was silent for the rest of the car ride and Mary noticed he was just as pale as she was by the time they were through with her witnesses. They both reiterated that their cellphones were never off and one of them would always be available and then they left.

By the time they were home, Norah had been fed and changed, ready to go down for the night. Mark tried to explain himself to Marshall, but Mr. Mann stopped him, stating,

"Some other time." He took Norah into his arms and closed the door behind Mark. Marshall felt a feeling of calm wash over him as his daughter snuggled into his chest, her eyes fighting to stay open. He was kind of disappointed once she fell asleep, having wanted nothing but to play with her all day. Marshall stopped himself multiple times in the next twenty minutes, biting his nails and shaking his legs while he sat on the couch, waiting for Mary to reappear.

"Marshall!" she called, her head popping out from the bathroom door frame, but quickly popping back in fast enough so he couldn't catch a glimpse at her expression.

He walked slowly down the hallway, Norah still in his arms, he stepped onto the cold tile in the bathroom, his bare feet pressing firmly to the ground. Slowly his eyes made their way to the basin of the kitchen sink where the piece of plastic lay there, a clear symbol embellishing it's digital screen,

"Is that?" his brow furrowed as he adjusted the snoozing baby in his arms, doing his best to stay steady enough not to wake her.

"That's right Marshall, you knocked me up."

(Like? Dislike?) XD


	22. Feelings

(Enjoy, worked on this chapter a little while in my notebook before I typed it out! Happy reading! Comments are always appreciated!)

Marshall stood frozen, Norah squirming in his arms, his eyes glued to the test that had now made its way deeper into the deep basin of the bathroom sink. Mary had her head in her hands, perched on the edge of the bath tub. She was shocked, but it made sense, _a lot _of sense, unlike it had been with Norah, it was definitely not unbelievable. There was that day in the shower, that time on the couch, once on the kitchen floor, yesterday, and a bunch of other times already. Now that she looked back, she had absolutely no idea how she had found that much time to be on top of Marshall Mann, it was almost excessive.

They kept each other company in silence for a few short moments afterward. Briefly, Marshall left, returning empty armed, having finally put Norah in her crib. Mary had every intention of remaining there, lost in her own mind for as long as possible, anything to put off the actuality of the situation, but Marshall coaxed her out of her haze by loudly clearing his throat. She looked up thoughtfully to find his gaze was locked upon her, a smile nearly from ear to ear,

"You _are _glowing." He responded to her stares, leaning against the door frame.

"Quit it Marshall! You don't get to be calm; you don't get to be Mr. Wonderful either! You and I have not slept through an entire night for_ six_ straight months; wipe that goofy ass grin off of your face before I beat it out of you!" she scolded, her voice quaking in panic.

"Oh c'mon Mare, weren't you the one telling me you wanted another baby with me? What has changed?"

"Nothing, but _you _said we should take it slow, for once you had a great idea!" Mary argued, not entirely sure she supported the words coming from her mouth.

"Take a look at the ring on your finger! We lived with each other, what? Three days! That idea went down the tubes _months _ago!"

"Marshall you haven't even told your parents we're engaged yet!" she shot back unintentionally, having not been aware that it had been bothering her.

"Are you _mad_ about that Mare?"

"Yeah, I'm pissed, and to be honest, it kinda hurts my feelings!- she answered, still in disbelief of herself- "I can't even count how many times I was stuck in the car, forced to listen to _excruciatingly_ long conversations between you and your mother about how perfect Abigail was! Now, they think you're single, and they're probably on the prowl for some other lady cop to fix you up with, uninformed of what the hell is actually going on here!"

"Mary, I didn't know you'd want me to tell them! I mean, you haven't told Brandi or Jinx yet!"

"Cellphones aren't allowed in rehab Marshall!" Mary eyed him, her eyebrows raised in response to his stupidity.

"I'll call them if you want me to, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings… Do you want me to call them? I'll do it right now!" Marshall was frantic, pushing to make it up to her on the spot, now knowing she was pregnant he could adjust himself accordingly. What he said. What he did. Even how he breathed these next forty weeks would have to be strategic, just to keep her happy. He would do anything for Mary and that included phoning his parents to explain in detail what had occurred the last few months if _she _thought it necessary.

Mary sat up, suddenly feeling pregnant again, as if she hadn't been _before _the test and by seeing the positive it had suddenly made it so.

She sighed in partial defeat,

"And what are you gonna say Marshall?- Mary put her blackberry up to her ear, a ridiculous expression coming over her face- 'Mom, Dad? Five months ago, _maybe_ three days after I left little Miss. Perfect, I proposed to Mary. Yeaaaaah _that_ Mary, my partner! OH! By the wayyyy! I live with her now, plus did I forget to mention? She has a daughter, who is well on her way to calling _me _Daddy, no I'm _not_ the father, it's her ex-husbands! But don't you worry! You'll be grandparents soon enough, because I got her pregnant! No it's not irresponsible, in fact it's economical! How you ask? Wel-

"Okay, that's enough!" he commanded,

"Oh and when you're on the phone Marshall, don't forget to throw out there that my sister's in rehab, but be polite, and ask them what they plan on having for dinner tonight while you're at it!" She slammed her phone onto the counter space near the sink, from where she sat.

"I can get them a flight out for tomorrow if you want to tell them in person, I just don't want to have to subject you to my mother already…"

"Newsflash Marshall! Your dad and I get along just fine, and according to you, his approval isn't an easy thing to get!"

"I-I know, but my mother, she's, she's different!"

"Who's not ashamed of their mother?"

"I'm not ashamed of her, I just don't want you to, you know- hate her."

"Jesus, you're worried about me hating her? You do realize _she'll_ probably hate _me?_ Even you've told me I'm not a people person; my anti-social personality is just the icing on the cake!"

"And what's mini-Mare? The adorable decoration to top it all off?"

"I hate how you can do that!" she yelled.

"Do what?"

"Change the subject to Norah, or, or Pie and all of sudden I'm not mad at you anymore! I hate it how you know me! Just promise me you won't tell them I'm pregnant until we're absolutely sure, or until we know how pregnant I- she stopped, attempting to swallow the large lump that had been forming in her throat. Slowly, she slid down the edge of the bath tub until her bottom was touching the tile of the cool bathroom floor. Mary pulled herself up to the toilet, her face disappearing into the bowl, before she began to heave up what little was left of the contents in her stomach, "You've got to be kidding me.." she groaned. Marshall could already tell she was sick of being pregnant again, but hoped it would get better as time progressed, because this time it was with him and this time she knew it was well worth the nine month wait for the end result.

He knelt down beside her, rubbing her upper back,

"Congratulations Daddy, pregnancy isn't as pretty up close as it is on T.V is it?" she snorted.

"_This_ may not be pretty, but you sure are…" he smirked.

"Ugh Doofus quit it before I start gagging again! Anyway, wait till you wake up in the morning next to a grotesque, hormone filled, big boobed, itchy raging lady thing, you'll be rethinking everything you say on this here bathroom floor…"

"Oh shush Mare, I don't care if you get as wide as you are tall, just as long as you keep your _kind _demeanor…." He teased.

"Gotchya." She winked, unraveling some toilet paper to wipe her mouth.

"Can I tell you something?"

"If I say no you'll just tell me anyway- she rolled her eyes,

"I'm happy." Marshall smiled.

"You won't be happy when I can't brush my teeth with peppermint toothpaste for a week without puking my guts out… _it's like a vicious circle_…"

"But the puking will eventually cease-

"And then comes the backaches, the raging hormones, frequent rest stops, ridiculous cravings-

"The miracle of life, the family dynamic, milestones to experience, we get to see our kids grow up together! What's so bad about that!"

"Nothing I-

"Just don't want to be pregnant again…"

"STOP THAT!" she ordered, poking him in the chest.

"Stop what?" he asked, pulling away, hands up in defense, afraid he had hurt her in some way.

"We are _not _going to be one of those couples that finish each other's sentences!"

He chuckled,

"As you wi- Mary's cellphone screeched from the sink, causing her heart to thump aggressively in her chest, she fumbled with her phone, rolling her eyes at her new witnesses name on the caller I.D.

"Mary?" She answered, not bothering to say 'inspector' hoping they would hang up before they could ask a stupid question, thinking they had dialed the wrong number. Although not plausible, she closed her eyes, praying the line would go dead as she waited for a response.

"Inspector Shannon? This is Lindsey Campagnola, from earlier?" she quavered.

"What's the problem?" Mary asked softly, agitated, but trying to hide it. Marshall rose, offering her a hand; she muttered a quick 'thank you' as she got to her feet, awaiting a response.

"Carl fell off- ff of th- the roof, we're in the em-mergency r-room!"

"What? Lindsey, how the hell did he do that? You've been alone for what? A whopping three hours!"

"M-Mary I'm real- healy worried!" she sobbed, "What do I do?"

"I'll be right over! Maybe if you hadn't been a cradle robber in the first place…" she muttered as she closed the phone. Mary looked at Marshall,

"I have to go take care of something."

"Everything all right?" he questioned curiously.

"No! Numbnuts fell of the god damn roof!" she answered, leaving the bathroom, take long strides down the hallway toward the door.

Marshall nodded,

"Are you gonna be able to drive?" he called as the front door shut.

'Apparently so' he thought as the car roared to life in the driveway, remembering they had left hers in the office parking lot this afternoon. Mary didn't care for her mini-van as much as she had loved her Probe; Marshall smiled, knowing she would have never let him convince her to leave _that _car.

He sighed, taking out his own cellphone,

"Mom? Is Dad with you? Good. Do you two feel like coming for a visit?" he asked, suddenly feeling nauseous himself.


	23. Raging Morals and Raging Hormones

(Commenting is awesome, and so are my readers- hope you're hanging in there still! Happy reading Enjoy!)

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU FALL OFF OF THE ROOF?" Mary screamed as she slammed the door of the hospital room.

He cleared his throat,

"Back in New York, every kid did that in the suburbs, myself more than the rest, cuz I could think up there, I just thought…"

"You just_ thought_ you could sit up on your peaked and_ steep_ I might add, roof? Instead of helping your, whatever the hell you call her, unpack?" Mary pointed out the door, in the direction Lindsey Shepherd had exited when she entered.

"I just needed time to think Inspector! Jeez, you don't know how stressful this is!"

"What in God's name are you talking about? I don't feel bad for you, usually I would play the 'understanding card', but with you, I find it impossible to even _pretend_ that I do! You don't know what stress _is_ kid!"

"STOP CALLING ME 'KID'! Where's Miss- er- Lindsey?"

"Oh let me guess, she's the only one who 'gets you' who doesn't treat you like a teenager? Is that it?" Mary replied, her tone more condescending than disgusted now.

"You don't get it." He rolled his eyes, turning his head to reveal three or four stitches in his cheekbone, Mary imagined he fell into one of the rose bushes that bordered the house taking a look at the scratches that covered his bare skin.

"No, I totally get it, who hasn't had the hots for one of their teachers? I imagined running away with my seventh grade math teacher on several occasions in class, but I never actually _did _it!"

"I chose to be with her, because- because I love her!"

"What about college Carl? Where does that come in, you won't last two seconds in the real world without a college degree these days!"

"College can come later, I need to get a job, support her, I need to-

"I hate to break it to you buddy, she _will_ wear the pants in your relationship, she _will _make more money, therefore she _will _pay most of the bills, why not get an actual education so maybe one day, if by some miracle this actually lasts you can take care of _her?_ Ya know, maybe put her in a nice nursing home or something?"

"SHUT UP! I LOVE HER! SHE AND I HAVE BEEN TOGETHER FOR THREE YEARS NOW! SHE IS THE WOMAN I WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE TAKING CARE OF!" his face was beat red,

Mary sighed, frustrated and tired, looking at her phone for the time, wanting nothing more than to go home for Norah, and to crawl into bed with Marshall.

"Did someone push you off of that roof?" she changed the subject, trying to get away from the tender topic for the time being.

"Wha? No!" he responded, as if suffering whiplash from the sudden change of emotion.

"Fire a shot at you?"

"No!"

"Then you could have spared me a trip down here, I have better things to do than come argue with a teenager about the difference between love and lust. And let me make one thing perfectly clear, if you wanna stay with Miss. Shepherd or, Lindsey, whatever the hell you call her, you_ never_ under any circumstances mention you were sixteen years old when the relationship was initiated. Because if_ I_ or any other inspector here about it again, I'll have to arrest her for statutory rape so fast it will make your head spin, got that?"

"Please don't do that, Inspector, she's havin my kid…She can't go to jail, it's my fault she's even in this mess in the first place.."he shook his head, his long hair brushing across his face repeatedly as he repeated the motion.

"What?" Mary's eyes bulged from her skull as her witness divulged yet another secret.

"She told me not to tell, somethin about keepin it a secret till the second semester-

"Trimester" Mary corrected quickly.

"Yeah, whatever, but, she started throwin up in that alley where that dude got capped a couple of days ago, from that motion sickness pregnant chicks get-

"Morning sickness." She corrected again, remembering the knot in her stomach.

"That's not the point, it's my fault, if I hadn't- you know, went and got her all pregnant and stuff she would have never been pukin in that alley, she woulda never seen that dude get murdered…"

Mary sighed, let her head fall, suddenly feeling a tinge of guilt from what she had sadi earlier, but still not much.

"Jesus Christ. I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't blame yourself for that. Fate is sick and twisted; if she hadn't been upchucking from morning sickness she would have been from eating bad chinese or _actual_ motion sickness. It's not your fault Carl."

"Can you just go? Like you said. It was a wasted trip, no one tried to off me or nothing, get back to whatever cops do in their spare time."

"Unfortunately for me, this is where my spare time is usually spent, scolding unruly witnesses for stupid decisions, I'm just gonna talk to Lindsey for a sec and then I'll go, but this isn't the last of me Carl." She threatened as she slammed the door shut.

She met her witness halfway down the hallway, closing the door to the public restroom,

"Hey Mrs. Shepherd, I'm just going to reiterate what I told Carl in there, unless you are in grave danger, or you think someone if after you, my cell is off limits to any non WITSEC related incidents."

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again Mary." She said guiltily.

Mary began to walk away, but turned back around,

"By the way, when were you going to find an appropriate time to mention you were pregnant?"

"How did you know?"

"A little birdy who just so happens to have trouble flying spilled the beans.."

"You know, normal people say 'congratulations'." She smirked, clearly trying to make it less tense.

"Not when you're carrying your student's unborn child, in this situation, that's not how normal people do it. Fifty percent will get the hell away from you, people who say 'hi' to you every day stop when they catch wind of it. The other fifty percent do exactly what I'm about to do."

Mary stepped up really close, her nose practically touching her witnesses,

"I don't approve of this, not in this least bit, that boy in there is throwing away his life, his education for you, if anything as a teacher, I would sure hope that bothers you. But because I know where you're at, and it's my job to protect you, I'll do my best to bite my tongue. I can't promise I'll be able to look you in the eye when all is said and done, but I will promise this. If you hurt that boy in there, or use this kid as a tool in whatever the hell you're trying to pull here, I'll have you out of witness protection and back to New York with just a scribble of a pen, without your baby, where you'll spend an ungodly amount of time in prison, have I made myself clear?"

"Inspector, you are very clear. But let me tell _you _something. Carl and I love each other, we really do, and I will make sure he is the best man he can be. He doesn't know it yet, but before he fell off of the roof I was looking at the programs they offer around here, he will get an education, he'll just have to have to be a father at the same time."

"Well I certainly hope you have fun convincing him, he's pretty sure a job at McDonald's is gonna support you two. Oh teenagers, well maybe his mom can- oh wait, his mom's halfway across the country. Good luck with that one." Mary walked away, leaving her witness in the middle of the hallway, mouth wide open. She could get in so much trouble for what she just did, but it could also go the other, by some miracle it could all pan out. She had broken her moral codes so many times before in this job, but this was one thing she couldn't bring herself to even pretend to be okay with, because it wasn't okay to her. Maybe Marshall should have taken the case, maybe she should have swallowed her pride when she had heard the phrase 'student teacher relationship' used in her casual "get to know you" conversation when the day began, but like her usual self, she didn't listen to her subconscious screaming "not the best idea right now Mary".

She opened the door to her house, the smell of pizza hitting her in the face; never had she felt the two feelings of hunger and nausea combined before she had gotten pregnant. When you were not acting as a human incubator, you usually only felt one out of the two at a time, just another thing she didn't like about the long process of having a baby.

"Marshall?" she called, taking tiny steps as she gulped in huge breaths of air into her mouth, trying to avoid the smell of anchovies radiating from Marshall's usual half cheese, half nasty tiny fishy, twenty-four cut pizza. How he could ruin a perfectly good pizza by tainting it with undersea life was to her, the question of all questions.

He appeared from the counter, in his boxers and undershirt, chewing on a chunk of anchovy,

"Pizza Mare?" he asked, holding up a slice angled just so, that an anchovy was staring back at her as well.

"Oh, Jesus, Marshall, can you bring that outside? Holy hell.." Mary would have continued, but she had already begun the several yard dash to the bathroom, while Marshall immediately closed the box, and obediently set it in the garage. He then spit his mouthful into a napkin and began to gargle some coke to erase any after whiffs of fish. What had he been thinking? Under any other circumstances she would have been ecstatic to see a large pizza pie sitting on the counter, but he should have thought it through, he knew she wouldn't be arriving home with a smile on her face. Even he would be a little ticked off if his witness had managed to fall off of a roof and because it was Mary, he should have known the feeling would be amplified, and that didn't even count the extra hormones raging around in her system. One of the reasons he had wanted her case was because he knew it would be a high maintenance pair, not that Mary couldn't handle high maintenance, but he knew the couples "situation" would definitely take her for a ride. Marshall credited himself for having enough self-control at the appropriate times, unlike Mary he didn't use the term selectively. Sometimes in the rush to please her he made decisions that were somewhat undesirable ones, sad, but true. Now he would be lucky if she would even talk to him, and he still had to tell her his parents would be there first thing tomorrow morning….


	24. The Ultrasound

(Sorry it's been a while, some uppity stuff, because I want some happiness after that series finale (satisfying, but upsetting to me) Anyway please enjoy! Love the reviews and the love! Thank you! If you get a chance check out my newest story! Enjoy friends!)

"Marshall it's your God damn mother again!" Mary whispered, holding her vibrating cell phone up to Marshall's face.

"Answer it." He coaxed, pushing the blackberry back toward his fiancé, smiling a little.

"And say what? Oh sorry we're running late Mrs. Mann, we're waiting for some freakin blood test results we already KNOW THE RESULTS OF!" Mary's volume heightened as she poked her head out the door of the office of her OB-GYN. "We haven't told them anything, can't we just keep it that way! I don't want them to find a reason to stay for _another _week!"

Marshall sighed. How they had convinced him to let them stay longer he didn't know. What he did know, was because of some mysterious phenomena his mother had loved Mary, had taken right to Norah and Norah took to her as well. It was scary really; he had an overwhelming inkling that they would hate each other, and times like these made him wonder if it would have been better that way.

"Doofus she calls, when she's not calling, she's texting or leaving voicemails! Christ, I'm glad your mother doesn't hate me, but this is getting out of hand, yesterday she asked me if I wanted lunch money before I left for work… not only is that creepy, but _lunch_ money? Maybe if she had offered car payment it would be a different story, I can't take this!"

"Mare, they have a flight for Thursday morning, you'll survive, but you know we'll have to tell them about your pregnancy before they leave. If my mother gets any suspicion that we knew you were pregnant the entire time she was living under the same roof, she'll feel betrayed, as if we were hiding it-

"She wouldn't be wrong…" Mary's green eyes glittered with frustration, her nostrils flaring with every breath she took.

"If you don't want to talk to her, just ignore it, turn off your phone or something…" he suggested, scooting to the edge of his seat as the sound of footsteps came nearer to their exam room. Mary tossed her phone to Marshall when the door opened, remembering Dr. Reese hated whenever she fiddled with her blackberry around her.

"So Mary, I definitely didn't expect to see you here at all, yet alone so soon. If I remember correctly, you told me you'd 'rather be abstinent than to ever know what it feels like for another human being to come out of you'…"

"Yeah, I- I did say that didn't I?" She rubbed her neck, her cheeks burning as Marshall chuckled from his seat.

Dr. Reese turned to the source of the pleasant sound of Marshall's laugh,

"And you are?"

"Marshall Mann, I'm her fiancé." He said it with such pride and accomplishment, it made Mary roll her eyes,

"Nice to meet you!" she responded shaking his hand,

"Now you two, as you already know, Mary you are in fact pregnant, your hormone levels look great, but I want to take a look and perform an ultra sound and I'll send you on your way, sound good?"

"Dandy." Mary smirked, the paper from the exam table crinkling under her weight as she positioned herself correctly, dreading the all too familiar stirrups. "Hey doofus, would you mind standing up here, near my _top_ half? No offense doc, but that is a piss poor place to have a chair. That's like a demented version of front row seating, a nasty twist to three dimensions-

"She gets the idea." Marshall nodded, stopping her from continuing as he made his way to the other side of the room.

"Okay, Mary, let me just take a look down here…" Mary grimaced as the doctor covered her legs with a sterile sheet, knowing all too well what was coming next, she thought she'd be used to it by now. "Well you've healed very nicely from Norah…" The doctor responded a few moments later, Mary blushed a bright shade of red, and she could have sworn Marshall was holding back another one of his chuckles. "Good, now let me just get the ultrasound all set up…" she said, ripping her gloves off, revealing her manicured hands.

"So what do you say partner, will I be allowed to frame this ultrasound and place it on my desk?"

"Oh c'mon Marshall! You are not displaying my uterus to _anyone_ around the WITSEC office! Nuh uh, nooo way!"

"I just figured it was worth a shot to ask you…Mare about my parents…"

"Doofus, if you want to tell them, we can… I just."

"You just what?" he asked, moving out of Dr. Reese's way.

"I don't- I don't want them to hate me, I mean you're parents just don't seem like the kinda folks who expect their son to get someone pre-wedding pregnant…" she mumbled.

"Oh… So you're not afraid they won't like you, you're afraid they'll be ashamed of me? Mary, my parents, they just want me to be happy, well, my dad wants be to in the U.S Marshal hall of fame… but my mom, she doesn't have any grandchildren… She loves being around Norah, why would this baby be any different?"

"I-

Dr. Reese interrupted,

"This gel will be a little cold Mary."

"Gotchya Doc- Marshall, no offense, but if my son told me, he's engaged to his partner, plays daddy to her daughter AND is having another with her, I'd just about keel over!" She continued.

"Relax, Mare, they'll be thrilled…." He reassured.

…

"Mom, Dad? We're home!" Marshall yelled as he shut the door.

Mary sighed, bracing herself to tell them where they actually were. She figured they'd be a little suspicious if they turned up with no groceries after spending so much time 'marketing'.

"My goodness, Marshall! Mary honey, where have you been?"

"Yeah… you're really gonna get a kick outta this one.." Mary snorted. She began to dig through her purse for the envelope containing the three printed copies of the sonogram. Just in case they needed proof. After all it was still a little unbelievable to her, and she was the one unable to keep solids down.

"Is everything all right?" Mrs. Mann furrowed her brow, much like Marshall did when he was worriedly curious.

"Oh yeah, nothing's wrong I- well, you know, nothing wrong per say, I guess it's really how you look at it, I don't-

Mary struggled to find the appropriate words, causing Marshall's mother to come closer and closer, until she was so close Mary could feel her breath, which didn't make it any easier-

Marshall, why don't you take this one!" She threw the situation at him, making a B-line to the opposite side of the room. Trying to settle her stomach once more, Mary couldn't stand someone breathing on her on a normal day, and unfortunately for her, Mrs. Mann didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space.

"Well umm, Mare, can I have that envelope?" he asked, extending his hand out as far as possible. Seth stood in the corner farthest away from everyone, staring intently at his son, awaiting for the stuttering Marshall to spit out whatever he was about to say.

Mary handed Marshall the ultrasounds, face down, so that the quirky label, "Baby's First picture" couldn't be seen by Marshall's parents.

"What are those?" they both questioned simultaneously, Seth's deep voice overpowering his wife's as though he were far more curious.

"I'm getting to that!" Marshall snapped, fumbling with the folded seal.

"Oh c'mon doofus, I'm even getting cranky from the anticipation and I already know what the hell is going on!" Mary snatched away the envelope, tearing it open just gently enough not to rip the sonogram itself.

She handed the picture to , while Marshall stood, his hands on his hips, his eyes searching for an expression on his mother's face as she looked over the photograph.

"Is this?"

"A picture of my uterus?" Mary inquired, not expecting his mother to look up with such a naïve, confused expression. "Look." Mary pointed, "That's an arm, the head-

"She's pregnant!" Marshall smiled, pulling Mary awkwardly closer to him, making Mary huff a little in exasperation and roll her eyes again.

"Really?" Seth asked from the corner.

"Really. Not what you expected Sir?" Mary asked, searching for his approval, suddenly fearing that maybe it was anger in his tone rather than disbelief.

"That's- That's wonderful you two!" Mrs. Mann sang, catching Mary off guard with a

hug.

…

took a little longer to come around to the idea, he sat silently at dinner, sending Marshall into a downward spiral as the night slowly progressed. When he asked his son to go for a walk with him, Mary wasn't sure where it would head, nor did she want Marshall to go at all, because that meant time with his mom. She didn't like spending time with her _own_ mom, and although Mrs. Mann was everything Jinx wasn't, she still didn't like the idea of being alone with her.

"I always knew Marshall would find someone, whether it was Abigail or not, but between you and me, I didn't want him with her…" she giggled as she confided to Mary..

"I was relieved, but don't tell him that, I dreaded every phone call I had with him until it was over, because I was so afraid one day he'd tell me he proposed to her… now honey, no one is that perfect, even my Marshall."

There was a strange silence that filled the air, meanwhile Mary busied herself playing with Norah's toes.

"My Marshall will make such a good daddy."

"Will? He_ is_ a good Daddy." Mary added with no effort, tickling Norah's tiny foot, she hadn't even had to think about it, the way he was with her daughter, suddenly she was ashamed. Ashamed for acting the way she had, like it was horrible to be pregnant again, because it wasn't. If she had to have a baby with anyone, it would be Marshall, and that's exactly what was happening. Underneath the nausea and the backache she was happy.

Mary still didn't have a clue what Marshall and Seth's talk was about, and she assumed Marshall would never tell her. They came back, Marshall was in one piece and Mr. Mann was even smiling a little, that's all she had to see.

…

Marshall strolled into the WITSEC office, whistling a tune unfamiliar to Mary.

"They get on the plane okay doof for brains?" his partner asked, typing on her computer, the tapping of the keys filling the silence of the quiet office.

"Yeah, they said they'll miss you, and mom said to expect a phone call sometime soon. She wants updates on her grandbaby."

"And you told her?" Mary looked up at him hopefully, crossing her fingers, praying he had let her down easily, begging to the heavens he had told her Mary wasn't the conversation type.

"You'd be looking forward to her call." He smirked, taking a seat at his desk.

"MARSHALL!" she complained.

"Oh, she'll forget about it, don't worry…" he played.

"Forget? I have heard nothing but stories about the day you were born since we told them and she you have the audacity to tell me she supposedly _forgets_? I gave birth to Norah less than a year ago and I made myself forget that experience and she remembered it from _forty_ years ago! Jesus Christ, what did you get me into?" She sighed, leaning back in her chair, awaiting Marshall's defensive rebuttal.

But it didn't come, he sat, his head cocked to the right side, staring down at his desk.

Mary smiled, realizing what he had caught sight of.

"Surprised?" she pushed, eager to see his reaction to the gift she had put on his desk.

"Mare, I though you didn't want me to-

"Well, I convinced myself maybe it wouldn't be so bad, plus who's gonna see it, Stan? Jeez, he probably won't even be able to tell what it is…I'll convince him it's some abstract art…." She chuckled mischievously.

Marshall took the little gift in his hands, a smirk spreading across his face,

"You framed the ultrasound for me?"


	25. Technicalities

_(I have resurrected this fic! MWAHAHAHA! I hope you all like the update- I'm a little rusty writing this one, so the update might not necessarily be up to par, but I'm sure the next on will be better!)_

"Mary! What the hell did you do to your witness?!" Her chief slammed his fist on his desk.

"Okay, Stan, can you be a little more specific- I mean-

"This isn't funny Mary! Your job is not to tell your witnesses that their lifestyle is immoral, it's not to threaten them with your authority-

"What are you talking about?!" Mary asked, shaking her head, glancing behind the shades to see if Marshall could tell Stan was angry.

"I'm talking about Lindsey and Carl Shepherd! –

"I handled the WITSEC issue Stanley; I don't see what the problem is!" she argued back.

-Yeah, you handled the WITSEC issue, there was no threat, there was no reason for you to get into their personal life Mary, I mean, jeez, what about being professional?"

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." She replied flatly, but Stan continued anyway.

She didn't remember the last time Chief McQueen had went on this sort of tirade about her behavior, in fact she wasn't even sure he had ever wet on this sort of tirade about her behavior.

"I am damn sure my other colleagues would suspend an Inspector who demonstrated this sort of unprofessionalism and ignorance…

He kept going, but she honestly couldn't pay attention, she felt funny, absolutely out of character. She rubbed at her neck, wiped at her mouth, chewed on her thumbnail, did anything but listen to Stan. It was easier to be reamed by Marshall, at least she knew after he yelled he would be slightly apologetic. Stan would shy away from her for the rest of the day, avoid her at all costs, why could she not handle this? What was wrong with her? This had never made her upset before why was it starting now, this was a usual part of the job. A scolding by Stan meant you were doing something right. Now, it just meant, controlling her pulse and holding her hand over her mouth so he couldn't see the messy hormonal casserole she had become.

…And if I were in my right- Mary are you crying?" Stan looked at her curiously, his mouth slightly agape.

"No…" she sniffed, wiping away the tears that had threatened for the past ten minutes to fall that were finally falling.

"Why are you crying? I'm just telling you."

Mary sobs reverberated off of the walls, making them louder than they actually were and a long, loud pounding on the door that had to be Marshall ensued.

Stan rushed over to unlock the door, and Marshall came exploding in,

"Mary? What's going on? Are you-

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" she hollered, "I am fine! I'm just—

Stan grabbed her by the shoulder,

"I'm sorry Mary, I didn't-

"Shut up! I'm pregnant, I'm not having a breakdown, I'm—Jesus Christ!" She sat down in the nearest chair, "I'll take care of the God Damn Shepherds, now both of you leave me alone!" She jumped up, brushing past both of the men, leaving them staring blankly at each other.

"Sooo, she's pregnant…" Stan began, smiling like an idiot with his arms crossed, switching from his tip toes to his heels.

"Shut up Stan." Marshall said, running out the door as well.

"Mary?!" But she was already gone.

xxx

"Listen, I know I was… ugh, rude, but-

"You were rude! I have to leave." Lindsey Shepherd grabbed her bag from her couch and threw it over her shoulder.

"What? Where are you going?" she questioned, stepping in front of the exit.

"I have an appointment!"

"Where the hell is Carl?"

"He's at that shitty job you so kindly got for him, I'm not pulling him out of his first day so he can accompany me to an ultrasound, they weren't too thrilled with his bandaged arm either, so that would have been strike two!"

"Wow, 'shitty' huh? Is that teacher talk you're using, 'cause I'm a little confused." Mary replied sarcastically.

"Mary, I'm already late, please." She begged.

"You can't go alone!"

"And who's going to go with me? You? Yeah, we'd really get along…" Lindsey spat, shoving her gently to the side.

"Just hear me out, yeah this whole baby thing with your former student, I don't like it. I'm never going to accept it. I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be going to these appointments these life changing checkups without someone by your side. It doesn't matter who it is- believe me, I've done it all by myself, and I'm relieved to finally have someone by my side… You don't have to like me, I'm just here to keep you safe, but let me at least bring you. Because whether or not I like it, your baby, is my witness too." Mary adjusted her jacket, as she stared back at her witness.

"After you Inspector." Lindsey said flatly, holding open the door for the U.s Marshal to walk through.

"Who's your doctor?" Mary asked politely, as they turned out of the Shepherds driveway.

"Doctor Reese."

She stopped the car,

"There is a clinic that's so much better…" Mary lied.

"No no, I already have the appointment scheduled, and I've heard she's really good!"

Mary fidgeted in her seat, gnawing on her bottom lip, of all security breaches, this one was the most ridiculous, either she convinced Lindsey to attend another office, or she risked Dr. Reese blowing her cover. This could put her in danger, the most stupid thing was going to put her in danger. She took out her phone.

"Marshall, we have the potential mother of all security breaches, no pun intended."

"Mary what are you talking about?" Lindsey yelled,

"Marshall, we're gonna need Delia to take care of this one. I'll explain why when I get back." Mary sighed, "Change of plans, my good friend- she nearly choked on the words- Delia is going to take you to your appointment, sound good?" She turned to her witness.

Technicalities, Mary thought.


End file.
